Louisiana State Senator Sharon Hewitt (R-Slidell) has introduced SB 235. It would change Louisiana elections for congress. Currently there are no primaries for congress and no party nominees. Instead, everyone runs in November. If no one gets 50%, there is a runoff between the two top candidates in December.

The bill would provide that parties would have nominees for Congress. Parties with registration of 5% or more would hold a primary on the second Saturday of August. Qualified parties with registration below 5% would choose nominees by vote of the State Central Committee. If a qualified party with registration less than 5% fails to act, then, if there are at least two candidates from that party, the Secretary of State would choose one by lot.

The bill lets each party entitled to a primary decide for itself whether to allow independents to vote in its primaries. The bill provides run-off primaries for these parties, if no one gets 50% in the primary. Thanks to Mike Wolf for this news.