PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION NEWS– Tuesday, November 4th- Polls Open 6:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

The Presidential election and U.S. Senate election are both OPEN PRIMARY elections where you can cross party lines to vote for the candidate of your choice. However, Louisiana did return to closed primaries for the Congressional runoffs to be held at the same time as the Presidential and US Senate election. This was necessitated by the postponed Sept. 6th election due to Hurricane Gustav. The Democratic and Republican party primaries and runoffs are CLOSED party elections.

Congressional election information- In the closed party runoffs for Congress, registered Republicans can ONLY vote for Republican candidates and registered Democrats can only vote for Democratic party candidates. The Democrats are also allowing No party, Other party and unaffiliated party voters to vote in the Democratic party primary. ‘Independents’ are classified as Other Party voters in Louisiana and are eligible to vote in the Democratic party runoff, too. These decisions were made by the political parties and you should contact them to express your opinion.

ALL local elections are OPEN PRIMARY and you can cross party lines in those elections.

If you feel that your party information is incorrect at either the polls or during early voting, you should stop BEFORE you cast your ballot and notify a poll worker. This information can be checked on the precinct register. You can also find this information at www.sos.louisiana.gov and click on Poll Locator for your voter information including your polling place location and map.