LOUISIANA — With early voting starting this weekend, we are breaking down what you need to know before heading to the polls.
There are four proposed amendments on the ballot for the March 29 election.
Click here and here to read about them.
Today, we're looking at Amendment 4 on that ballot, which asks:
"Do you support an amendment to provide for the use of the earliest election date to fill judicial vacancies?"
Sarah Whittington, Advocacy Director of the ACLU, breaks it down.
“Amendment 4 basically moves around election dates for judges," Whittington tells KATC. "I think what folks need to understand is that it’s going to potentially allow important judicial elections to be moved to less visible and less important election days.”
According to PowerCoalition, a vote 'no' would keep the current rule, which gives the state up to 12 months to hold a special election to fill a judge's vacancy.
“There are judges that are appointed into these positions. Judicial vacancies typically don’t just sit, but it’s important for our democracy that we have free and fair judicial elections. When you put them on off-ballot election days, you are going to get lower turnout," Whittington says.
We reached out to State Sen. John C. "Jay" Morris, R-District 35, who authored the bill, to explain why Louisianans should support this amendment.
"With respect to judges, if a judge quits, the constitution now requires that the vacancy be filled within a year. The problem is with the closed primary system, you have two extra elections. You got the closed primary, the closed primary runoff, and the general and the general primary runoff. So those are extra elections that you have to have. A lot of times, using the standard cycle that we have for elections, it would take longer than a year to accomplish that.”
Morris also explains that this proposed amendment would make the process quicker and more efficient.
To read more in-depth about this amendment and the others, check out the 2025 Par Guide below.
If you want to make your voice heard, you can cast your ballot during early voting, or on election day. Here are the details on early voting: https://www.katc.com/news/elections-local/early-voting-starts-march-15-whats-on-your-ballot
Here's the one-sheet PAR Guide on all the amendments:
And here's the more detailed PAR Guide on all the amendments:
