BATON ROUGE, La. — The Secretary of State’s Office announces emergency changes to the qualifying process for two party primary offices pursuant to the Governor’s order. This was necessitated by recent vacancies on the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, District 1, previously held by Member Paul Hollis, and on the Louisiana Supreme Court, District 1, previously held by Justice Will Crain.
The following parishes will be affected by these calls for special elections:
State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, District 1: Jefferson, Orleans, St. Tammany, and Tangipahoa
Louisiana Supreme Court, District 1: Livingston, Orleans, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Washington
Due to the shortened timeline for gathering signatures on a nominating petition, emergency modifications to the process have been implemented by Governor Jeff Landry’s proclamations 79 JML 2025 and 80 JML 2025. Candidates seeking to qualify via a nominating petition will have until January 30, 2026, to collect 150 signatures of voters within the affected districts and return their petition to the proper Registrar(s) of Voters for certification. The nominating petition for these two offices can be found on the Secretary of State’s website at https://sos.la.gov/ElectionsAndVoting/PublishedDocuments/2026.
The special elections for these vacancies will follow the party primary timeline established by Act 1 of the 2025 First Extraordinary Session of the Legislature:
Deadline to submit nominating petition signatures: JANUARY 30, 2026
Qualifying dates: FEBRUARY 11-13, 2026
Party Primary: MAY 16, 2026
Second Party Primary, if necessary: JUNE 27, 2026
General Election: NOVEMBER 3, 2026
Any candidates with questions regarding these changes may call the Elections Hotline at 800-883-2805 or contact the Registrar of Voters or Clerk of Court in their parish. The public is also encouraged to visit geauxvote.com/cpp for more information on qualifying and the party primary process.
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