On August 18, the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee voted that independent voters should not be allowed to vote in Republican primaries for Congress. The Louisiana presidential primaries have always been closed to independents, so this decision isn’t too suprising.
Louisiana hasn’t had party primaries for Congress since 1976, but starting in 2008, there will be party primaries for Congress in Louisiana. Therefore, each of the state’s 5 qualified parties must decide whether to let independents vote in its congressional primaries. The other 4 parties haven’t decided yet.
The Louisiana parties have until next January 1 to decide whether to invite independents into their congressional primaries.
It was, of course, the U. S. Supreme Court’s 1986 ruling in Tashjian v. Republican Party of Connecticut that gave parties the right to invite independents to vote in their primaries.
Louisiana, which has had party registration since 1916, is one of only three former Confederate states that does. The others are Florida and North Carolina.