Voter groups challenge order to postpone House primaries in Louisiana

WASHINGTON - A group of Louisiana voters and voting rights groups filed a state lawsuit Friday challenging Gov. Jeff Landry's executive order to postpone the state's May 16 primaries for the House.

The lawsuit seeks to block Landry's move, arguing in part it exceeds the governor's authority to invoke emergency power to stop elections because of a Supreme Court ruling, rather than a natural disaster, public health or other safety emergency.

Plaintiffs and counsel, who sought a temporary restraining order from a Louisiana court, said in a news release any last-minute effort to alter election procedures or enact discriminatory maps must be stopped.

"Emergency powers are not a blank check to rewrite election rules after voting has begun, nor do they authorize the Governor to cancel votes that have already been cast to suit his political purposes," the statement said.

"The Governor's order is sparking chaos and is an illegal effort to erase the legally cast votes and disenfranchise thousands of people across the state."

The Supreme Court invalidated Louisiana's congressional map in a decision that limits the use of race in drawing congressional districts.

In a 6-3 decision, the court's conservative majority found that Louisiana should not have been forced to draw a congressional map with a second Black-majority district to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

Landry, a Republican, announced his decision to postpone the House elections Thursday, and released an executive order he signed prohibiting the state from conducting House elections under its current map.

"Allowing elections to proceed under an unconstitutional map would undermine the integrity of our system and violate the rights of our voters," Landry said. "This executive order ensures we uphold the rule of law while giving the Legislature the time it needs to pass a fair and lawful congressional map."

The plaintiffs are the League of Women Voters of Louisiana, Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, and three individual voters. They are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the ACLU of Louisiana.

The voters on the lawsuit are "currently engaged in voter education and advocacy to encourage voter participation but now do not know if they need to change or update their voter education and advocacy materials or even what information should be included in any such updates," the lawsuit states.

"In some circumstances, they will be unable to update materials, including materials printed in advance of the start of early voting tomorrow," the lawsuit states.

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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 4:01 PM.