On June 4, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed HB 420.  It changes the procedure for a group to become a qualified party.  The old law required such a group to have 1,000 registrants and to pay a fee of $1,000.  The new law, effective August 1, says it must have 5,000 registrants and pay a fee of $1,000.

Once a group becomes a qualified party, it need not retain 5,000 registrants.  It can remain qualified if it had run a candidate for some partisan office at any time in the last four years.

The bill also says that no party can have “Independent” as part of its name, and that voters who register “independent” will be classed as though they had checked the “no party” box.  And it sets out a procedure for a qualified party to voluntarily cease being qualified.  The Independent Party of Louisiana will now cease to exist as a qualified party.