PRIMARY ELECTIONS

MAJORITY VOTE

All candidates in Louisiana are elected by majority vote. When one candidate is to be elected, candidate who receives a majority of the votes cast for an office in a primary election is elected. If no candidate receives a majority, the top two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the general election.

1) Majority vote, ONE (1) to be elected. If a candidate gets more votes than all of the other candidate votes added together, then the candidate received a majority and is elected.

Example: (# votes for candidate with most votes) is greater than (total # of votes for all other candidates combined)

3,617 votes for Candidate A is greater than total of all votes combined for Candidate B (892) + Candidate C (996) + Candidate D (747) = 2,635

2) Majority vote, MORE THAN ONE to be elected.

If there are two (2) or more offices of the same character to be filled, the number of votes necessary to constitute a majority shall be the greater result obtained by:

• Dividing the total votes cast for all of the candidates by the number of offices to be filled,

and

• Dividing the result so obtained by two.

Example:(total votes cast) divided by (number of offices) = (result), then (result) divided by (2) = (# of votes needed for majority)

1040 total votes cast divided by 3 offices to be filled = 346.6
346.6 divided by 2 = 173.3
Need 174 to win for each of the 3 offices

WITHDRAWN CANDIDATES

• Any votes received by a withdrawn candidate or a deceased candidate shall be void and not counted for any purpose whatsoever.

UNOPPOSED CANDIDATES

• If the number of candidates who qualify for an office does not exceed the number of persons to be elected at the close of qualifying, or those remaining after the withdrawal of candidates before the election does not exceed the number of persons to be elected, they are declared elected as unopposed candidates and their name shall not appear on the ballot.

TIE VOTE

• If the number of candidates receiving the highest tie vote exceeds the number of persons to be elected, they all advance to the general election.

GENERAL ELECTIONS

CANDIDATES WHO QUALIFY FOR GENERAL ELECTION

• Candidates who qualify for each office remaining to be filled in a general election are those who received the two highest votes, four highest votes, etc... until the maximum number of candidates for each office is reached, except in the case of a tie vote.

MOST VOTES

• The candidate who receives the most votes cast for an office in a general election is elected.If two or more offices are to be filled, those candidates receiving the highest total of votes are elected to the number of offices to be filled.

TIE VOTE IN GENERAL

• If there is a tie vote among more candidates than offices to be filled, all candidates who received the highest number of tie votes advance to another election to be held at the 3rd Saturday after the promulgation of the election results.

CERTIFICATION OF CANDIDATES

• FULL TERM- The Secretary of State certifies candidates within 30 days of the general election.
• UNEXPIRED TERM- The Secretary of State promptly certifies candidates elected at a special election for an unexpired term.

For more information on Oaths of office follow this link to our Commissions Division.