BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Louisiana Lt. Gov.-elect Jay Dardenne has worked out a situation where a special election will not be required for his old secretary of state office, saving the state millions of dollars.
It is estimated the election would have cost about $6 million. His convincing win means a shuffle in statewide officials.
Dardenne can, by law, take over as lieutenant governor on Nov. 12. However, that course of action would mean a special election to fill his secretary of state position. By waiting a week, Dardenne effectively saves the state millions.
"Basically, waiting for the nine-day contest period to challenge the election and normally, you would, but I'm going to wait to make certain that we do not have a special election that would cost taxpayers $6 million," he explained.
There is lots of speculation now on what Gov. Bobby Jindal's next move will be.
All but one statewide official is a Republican.
The lone Democrat is Attorney General Buddy Caldwell.
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