EDITORIAL: Louisiana elections just get 'curiouser and curiouser'
The Town Talk (excerpt)

In the wonderland known as Louisiana, where elections are many and frequent, voters will have to pay special attention to navigate the next few rounds successfully. Even experienced voters who have a reasonable understanding of Louisiana's special brand of politics are mumbling "curiouser and curiouser" to themselves, just as Alice did in her own odd Wonderland. And so it is, as qualifying for federal, state and local races is under way this week, a process that precedes a schedule of elections for which the rules are not the same. Consider: The congressional primaries on Aug. 28 will be partisan, with the winners going head to head in the Nov. 2 general election. Candidates for local and state races, meanwhile, will compete in one primary on Oct. 2. Runoffs, if needed, will be on the Nov. 2 ballot.

It wouldn't be election time in Louisiana if voters weren't being asked to tinker with the state Constitution. Six proposed amendments will be on the Nov. 2 ballot, and that is good news, considering the context. Lawmakers proposed 88 amendments during the legislative session. Eighty-eight! This endless hacking at the Constitution is a poor way to run a state, but it's easy to understand why it happens: Voters don't trust lawmakers because too many of them promise one thing and then do anything but that.

Louisiana voters are so jaded that, instead of requiring lawmakers to do their jobs, they choose instead to flip a coin in the voting booth on amendments that are understood only by the special interests who put them there. Yes, it's election season in Louisiana. As our bewildered friend Alice says, "It would be so nice if something made sense for a change."