Louisiana voters decide federal and state races in Tuesday's open-primary election

House primaries were postponed from May to allow redrawing the congressional map

Louisiana voters will elect leaders for federal, state and other offices on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Polls close at 8 p.m. local time, which is 9 p.m. Eastern, and the Associated Press’s Decision Team will monitor key data points as the votes are tallied.

The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in races for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, statewide ballot measures, the state House, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Louisiana Public Service Commission.

Louisiana is unique this cycle, in the AP’s account, in that the Nov. 3 election is an open primary for U.S. House races with all candidates on the same ballot regardless of party. That means the state has not yet held primaries to whittle down the field of candidates for congressional offices.

To win a seat on Nov. 3, the top candidate must receive at least 50% of the vote plus one. If no candidate reaches that mark, the top two vote-getters will go on to a Dec. 12 runoff, which is known as Louisiana’s general election.

The primary was originally slated for May 16 but was postponed to allow time to redraw the congressional map in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that, according to the AP, significantly weakened the Voting Rights Act.

About 1.4 million votes were cast in Louisiana’s 2022 race for U.S. Senate, the state’s last midterm cycle. About 27% of all ballots cast in that race were cast early or by absentee ballot, and the AP is publishing the latest advance vote totals for this year in its advance vote tracker.

The majority of parishes are expected to release almost all absentee and early vote results in the first vote report of the night, before most in-person Election Day votes are reported, according to the AP.

Louisiana’s 2024 general election offers a point of reference for the pace of counting. The first results were reported starting at 9:06 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 5, six minutes after polls closed. The state reached 50% of votes reporting at 9:59 p.m. Eastern and 90% of votes reporting at 11:06 p.m. Eastern.

The Associated Press does not make projections. It declares a winner only when it determines there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory, and will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

Louisiana has no automatic recounts, though a candidate may request and pay for a recount of absentee and early votes. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it determines the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.