The Independent Party became ballot-qualified in Louisiana in December 2016, but until now, it has not had any candidates for any federal or state office. But in this year’s congressional elections, the party has four U.S. House candidates. They are Frederick Jones in the First district, Belden Batiste in the Second district, Billy Burkette in the Fifth district, and Devin Lance Graham in the Sixth district.
Actual independent candidates in Louisiana have “no party” as a ballot label. But members of the Independent Party have “Independent” as their ballot label. It was not possible for an Independent Party to be qualified in Louisiana until 2014, when the legislature repealed the law that said no party could be called “Independent Party.”
The Independent Party became ballot-qualified by filing an application, paying a fee of $1,000, and showing that at least 1,000 voters were registered into the party.
I think that in practice, the state uses “D”, “R”, “L”, etc. In addition to “N” for No Party, they use “O” for Other Party. One reason that the law was changed, was that an Independent member of the legislature wanted to run as I rather than O, but he didn’t actually run for an Independent Party, so his legislation did not benefit him. The number of write-in registrations for “Independent” was sufficient that the party was automatically qualified as soon as a self-proclaimed chairman sent in the form and a check for $1000.
Guidance in the past at least was to inquire whether a candidate who was a registered “Independent” whether they wished to run as “Independent (Party)” or “No Party”.
It appears that all the Independent Party needs for its presidential nominee in 2020 is a form with the name of its candidates (along with their consent) and the names of the elector candidates.
28 candidates filed for the Open Primary (6 US Representatives), 12 Democrats, 6 Republicans, 4 Independents, 3 Libertarians, and 3 No Party candidates.
Qualification for all candidates was the $600 filing fee (or 1000 signatures). R’s and D’s pay $300 to their state central committees.
The current voter registration form has checkboxes for [ ] DEM [ ] GRN [ ] IND [ ] LBT [ ] REP [ ] NO PARTY and [ ] OTHER (specify) _____________