Louisiana early voting begins amid confusion after Supreme Court cancels House races

Louisiana voters walked into early voting sites Saturday to find one part of the ballot suddenly frozen, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais upended the state’s congressional calendar just days before voting began.

The state suspended only the U.S. House primaries. Other contests scheduled for May 16, including the U.S. Senate primary, the state Supreme Court race, Public Service Commission elections and constitutional amendments, remained on track. Early voting for the May election was set to begin May 2, and the suspended congressional primaries included the main election scheduled for May 16 and a second primary set for June 27 if no candidate won outright.

The Supreme Court issued its decision on April 29 and held that Louisiana’s current congressional map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Gov. Jeff Landry said the ruling effectively reinstated a lower court injunction blocking elections under the invalidated map, and said the state was working with the Legislature and the secretary of state’s office to find a path forward. Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry’s office said notices would be posted at early voting sites to alert voters that the congressional primaries had been suspended.

That message arrived late for many voters. Absentee ballots had already been mailed before the suspension was announced, and much of the ballot had already been printed, leaving election officials to manage a fast-moving reversal in real time. State Sen. Royce Duplessis warned the shift would create “mass confusion among voters” and said it amounted to changing the rules “in the middle of the game.”

The stakes reach far beyond Louisiana’s election offices. The state’s House delegation currently includes four Republicans and two Democrats, and a revised map could give Republicans a chance to pick up at least one more seat in the 2026 midterms. Louisiana’s population is about one-third Black, and the case could shape how courts and legislatures interpret the Voting Rights Act in redistricting fights across the South.

For now, Louisiana is left with a split ballot and a divided election calendar, one where some races will proceed as planned and the state’s six House contests remain in limbo. The confusion at the polling place is the immediate cost of a legal fight that may alter who gets to draw district lines in the next decade.