WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) wrote a Letter to the Editor in The Advocate opposing the Louisiana Legislature’s vote to switch the state from an open primary to a closed primary system. According to polling, 97% of Louisianans do not want to spend millions of dollars on more elections. The change to a closed primary system is estimated to cost taxpayers $135 million over 10 years while Louisiana already faces a $64 million deficit next fiscal year.
“Over ten years, $135 million taxpayer dollars will pay for more elections, including $61 million over the next three years. That’s for a mere 28 officials out of almost 5,000. By the way, the Legislature doesn’t know how to pay for it, or at least it has not told anyone how they will do so,” wrote Dr. Cassidy.
“Closed primaries also mean tens of thousands of Louisiana voters will not be able to vote. They are footing the bill for what the sponsor of the closed primary legislation has called a “club,” which is a political party that doesn’t want to let non-affiliated voters in but is still making them pay the bill anyway,” continued Dr. Cassidy.
“If you want to have an effective delegation, keep your current system. If you want to have Louisiana taxpayers pay the dues for clubs that you’re not invited to, change to closed primaries. We need the Legislature to be as fiscally conservative as they campaigned to be. Spend $135 million on things that are a priority, not on dues for a club,” concluded Dr. Cassidy.
Read the full letter here or below:
$135 Million for Closed Primaries is Fiscally Reckless and Bad Policy
U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA)
February 5, 2024
There’s been a lot of discussion regarding Louisiana’s change from open to closed primaries which passed in January’s special session. Cutting to the chase, it’s bad public policy which almost no one in Louisiana wants to spend money on.
First, it costs a lot of money. Over ten years, $135 million taxpayer dollars will pay for more elections, including $61 million over the next three years. That’s for a mere 28 officials out of almost 5,000. By the way, the Legislature doesn’t know how to pay for it, or at least it has not told anyone how they will do so.
This comes in the context of recent forecasts that the state has a $64 million budget shortfall. The .45 cent sales tax sunsets next fiscal year. It may be that Louisiana has to keep the sales tax increase to pay for elections for 28 Louisiana officials. This is fiscal incontinence from a supposedly fiscally conservative state Legislature.
What else could we do with that money? The federal government matches money Louisiana spends on Medicaid two-to-one. This $135 million could be part of a $405 million package spent on mental health services, opioid addiction treatment, maternal health care, and other life-saving services. Or it could pay for more police or better roads, but it’s being spent on more elections.
Indeed, if you ask Louisianians about their priorities, they rank investing in infrastructure like roads and bridges, hiring more police officers, improving the levee system or a taxpayer rebate at the top of the list. Only 3% want to spend money on more elections. Put differently, 97% of us do not want to spend millions of dollars on more elections. You can’t get 97% of people to agree the sky is blue, but you can get them to agree that this is a colossal waste of money.
By the way, closed primaries were tried before in 2008 and abandoned after 2010 because it was too complicated and too expensive.
Right now the process is simple and easy; everyone in the same precinct receives the same ballot. Under the new closed primary system, voters are segregated by party and told they can vote for some people and not for others. In some elections, after finishing voting in the closed primary, you may have to vote on other electoral races on a separate ballot or get in another line at the polling place.
Clerks of Court still talk about how frustrated and angry voters were when we did this before. It also drastically increases error rates. All conservatives should be concerned about election integrity.
Closed primaries also mean tens of thousands of Louisiana voters will not be able to vote. They are footing the bill for what the sponsor of the closed primary legislation has called a “club,” which is a political party that doesn’t want to let non-affiliated voters in but is still making them pay the bill anyway. If I’m paying the dues for someone else in a club, I’m mad.
The current system works. Just look at our delegation in Washington. There is no other delegation in Congress that has the two highest leadership positions in the House, seats on both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, and the top Republican spot on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
If you want to have an effective delegation, keep your current system. If you want to have Louisiana taxpayers pay the dues for clubs that you’re not invited to, change to closed primaries. We need the Legislature to be as fiscally conservative as they campaigned to be. Spend $135 million on things that are a priority, not on dues for a club.
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