Less than a quarter of Louisiana’s voters cast ballots in the special election for insurance commissioner as well as for secretary of state, according to finalized voting tallies.
Only about 708,000 of the state’s nearly 2.9 million registered voters, or 24.6 percent, turned out for the Sept. 30 elections, among the lowest turnouts for a statewide ballot in recent years, but better than initial estimates that only about 20 percent cast votes.
In the election, Jim Donelon, a Republican from Metairie, was chosen as the state’s latest insurance commissioner, and Republican state Sen. Jay Dardenne and Democratic state Sen. Francis Heitmeier were selected for a runoff for the secretary of state’s job.
Heitmeier dropped out of the race, however, handing the seat to Dardenne without a runoff.
In the September election, white Republicans showed up in higher percentages to the polls than any other group, though their turnout still didn’t break 30 percent. White voters in general cast more ballots than black voters, with nearly 28 percent of white voters going to the polls, compared to less than 20 percent of black voters.
The Louisiana Secretary of State Elections Division compiled the turnout data after getting final totals from clerks of court offices around the state.
The lowest turnout for a statewide election was in the congressional runoff election in December 2004, when 23.5 percent of the voters cast ballots, according to a spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office.
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