On January 23, U.S. District Court Judge Frank Polozola ruled from the bench that Louisiana cannot hold its congressional elections in late September or early October. Love v Edwards, 95-cv-788. The state hasn’t decided whether to appeal. The decision was no surprise, since the US Supreme Court had ruled the same way in this same case back in 1997. In 2005 the legislature had passed a new variation of the old law. The new variation said that the election was “deemed” to be in November.

Louisiana is the only state in which political parties do not nominate candidates for congress. Instead, all candidates run in the election on a single ballot. Usually someone gets over 50%, and the election is over. When no one gets 50%, Louisiana holds a run-off between the top two. Louisiana would like to hold its election in September, and if a run-off is needed, hold that in November. But a federal law, passed in 1872, orders the states to hold congressional elections in November, and says if the state wants a run-off to ensure the winner gets 50%, that run-off must be after the November election.

The decision will put pressure on Louisiana to either use Instant-Runoff Voting for its congressional elections, or else reinstate the system used in all other states, in which parties nominate candidates.