Barring another executive order, the Louisiana Presidential Preference Primary election will be held July 11.
The race has been whittled down to only two presumptive candidates — incumbent Republican President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden — since the coronavirus virus-induced postponements. However, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ name will appear on the Democratic ballot since he withdrew from the race after ballots were printed.
Acadia Parish Registrar of Voters Billie J. Meyer explained that the Louisiana primary is a closed primary with the state awarding 61 delegates, of which 54 are pledged delegates allocated on the bases of the results of the primary.
A “closed” election means Democratic voters can only vote for Democratic candidates and Republican voters can only vote for Republican candidates. Voters with any other party affiliation cannot vote in this election.
“Early voting for the primary and for the August 15 general election has been extended by a week due to the secretary of state’s Emergency Election Plan,” Meyer said. “For the July 11 election, early voting will be Saturday, June 20, through Saturday, July 4, except on Sunday, June 21, Sunday, June 28 and Friday, July 3.”
Early voting will be conducted in the registrar of voters’ office on Court Circle in Crowley from 8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. each day.
Louisiana was first to postponed its presidential primary as part of the state government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Initially scheduled for April 4, Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin chose to move the primaries to June 20. On April 14, the primary was further delayed another three weeks to July 11.
These delays would have resulted in Louisiana losing half of its delegates since the primary date is “past a June 9 deadline set by the Democratic National Committee,” but there will be no penalty because the 2020 Democratic National Convention was rescheduled to August.
The deadline to register in person or by mail to vote in the primary is June 10. The deadline to register on the geauxvote online portal in June 20.
Deadline to request a mail ballot from the registrar of voter’s office is 4:30 p.m. July 7. Deadline for the registrar to receive a mailed ballot is 4:30 p.m. July 10.
Voting on election day will be from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.
