If only Louisianans could vote on how they vote, the outcome wouldn’t be remotely close.

The open primary system that’s been (mostly) in place for a half-century is, simply put, immensely popular. A new poll by JMC Analytics, sponsored by the election reform group Unite America, found that 69% of likely Louisiana voters favor allowing all voters to support candidates of their choice, regardless of party.

You wouldn’t have known that from watching the Louisiana Legislature last year, when it changed the rules and adopted party primaries for Congress, the state Supreme Court, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Public Service Commission. The argument for this system is that people who identify strongly with a party should have outsized power to pick which candidates

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