Finalist: Editorial Staff of The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.

In the wake of a midterm election that underscored deep partisan divisions across the country, Americans might be wondering if Democrats and Republicans can agree on anything meaningful.

To those who doubt that bipartisanship still lives, we say, come to Louisiana.

In Tuesday’s election, Louisiana citizens voted overwhelmingly for an amendment to the state constitution that abolishes nonunanimous jury verdicts in felony trials. Complete but unofficial returns showed the measure winning with 64 percent of those who cast votes giving it a thumbs-up.

That decisive margin capped a campaign in which a broad coalition of liberals and conservatives joined forces to do away with Louisiana’s peculiar 10-2 rule, which allows defendants to be convicted of serious crimes if just 10 of 12 jurors agree. Louisiana is one of only two states — Oregon is the other — where such split verdicts are allowed. Louisiana’s split-verdict rule originated in the Jim Crow South of the 19th century, when white leaders feared that newly empowered black jurors might disrupt the status quo. Dispensing with unanimous verdicts allowed the white majority to prevail. A yearlong Advocate review of recent felony trials indicated that the rule disproportionately disadvantages black defendants.

Progressives embraced jury reform as a matter of social justice. Many conservatives championed abolishing the 10-2 rule because of their longstanding vigilance about the power of the state to limit personal liberty without due process. Fiscal hawks liked jury reform because locking up wrongly convicted citizens wastes money. Public safety advocates supported the change because when the wrong person goes to jail for a crime, the real culprit can remain free to do more harm. As a result, both the Democratic and Republican parties of Louisiana endorsed the reform measure, Amendment 2. The conservative Louisiana Family Forum and Americans for Prosperity backed the change, as did several prominent Louisiana district attorneys. State Sen. JP Morrell, a New Orleans Democrat, authored a bill to put Amendment 2 on the ballot, and State Rep. Sherman Mack, an Albany Republican, carried the bill in the House.

Debate about the proposed reform was thoughtful and measured, perhaps because Democrats and Republicans had worked together last year to pass other justice reform measures in the Legislature.

It’s a testament to the good that leaders of differing political backgrounds can do when they put principle above party. We hope that search for common ground happens more often in Louisiana — and the rest of the nation.