Prior to the November 4 election, Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne was predicting a voter turnout of 70%. Dardenne based his prediction on the strong interest in the election, the historic nature of the campaign and the record breaking numbers of early voters. In the end, the final tally showed that 67.48% of the state’s 2.9 million registered voters cast ballots. While Obama handily defeated McCain nationwide, the Arizona Senator fared very well in Louisiana, winning the state easily with 58.61% of the vote. The turnout was an increase from 2004 when 66% of the people voted, but far below the all-time record in Louisiana which was set in the Duke-Edwards gubernatorial run-off of 1991. In that year, an astounding 78.9% of registered voters participated in the election.
