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Louisiana to stop recognizing Independent Party Friday. Here's what voters should know

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On Friday, Louisiana voters who are currently registered with the Independent Party will be automatically reclassified as having “No Party” affiliation in the state’s voter registration system. This is due to a law passed during the most recent legislative session as part of the transition to closed party primary elections for certain offices.

“If you’re a Democrat then you can only vote in the Democratic Party primary, if you’re a Republican you can only vote in the Republican primary. But if you’re No Party you can choose to vote in either party primary, not both, but one,” Secretary of State spokesperson Joel Watson explained.

For the May runoff, voters registered as “No Party” must vote in the same primary as they did in April.

Next year, the U.S. Senate and House, State Supreme Court, Public Service Commissioner and Board of Elementary of & Secondary Education (BESE) elections will be closed primaries.

Watson said lawmakers opted to remove the Independent Party to avoid confusion.

“ Most voters, when they selected independent on their voter registration they thought they were registering as unaffiliated with any political party. However, since 2014, the independent party has actually been a recognized political party in Louisiana, so we want to avoid voter confusion going into the closed party primaries that start in spring of 2026,” said Watson.

Watson said approximately 150,000 individuals who are registered as Independent will receive a letter explaining the change.

To check or change your party registration visit GeauxVote.com.

For more information click here (see PDF included in slack).