Closed Primaries?

Somehow, I missed it, but it looks like Louisiana is going to start using closed primaries for the Congressional Delegation. That's big news.

Louisiana has, since 1975, cast its votes in open primaries where all candidates ran in one primary election with the top two finishers meeting in the general election.

Most Louisiana voters are comfortable with the open primary system. Edwin Edwards birthed this system in 1975 when he was the biggest kingpin in Louisiana politics, but said that we'd regret the day that we adopted open primaries.

Open primaries led to some weird results. Most recently, with Democratic mayor Ray Nagin meeting Democratic challenger Mitch Landrieu in the general election for mayor of New Orleans. Again in New Orleans, with Democrat William Jefferson meeting Democrat Karen Carter for the latest 2nd Congressional District race.

When I registered to vote in 1971, Louisiana was under a closed primary system. There weren't enough Republicans to matter anywhere in the state. If a person wanted to be elected, they registered as Democrats. 1975 changed all that, because a person could be registered as a Republican and vote in elections just like anyone else. The only difference was that you had to vote for Democrats because there were very few Republicans on the ballot.

Now, for Congressional races that is going to change. Louisiana is still a state where the majority of people are registered as Democratic. Latest estimates put the percentages at 54% Democratic, 24% Republican and 22% independant or unaffiliated. Some voters who don't pay attention will be shocked during the 2008 election when they're ushered into a Democrat or Republican booth, or they're turned away because they are not affiliated with a party. Yeah, the 2008 election is going to be a nutroll.

I'm all for it. Shaking up voters is a good idea. Having voters crystallize their choices is a wonderful idea. Initially it will only affect Congressional elections, but I think that closed primaries are a wonderful idea for all elections. Maybe it's an idea whose time has come.