Gov. Bobby Jindal was near the number of votes he needs on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to get his chosen man tapped to be state education superintendent, with Saturday's election determining the governor's sway on the board.

Three of BESE's eight elected seats are in runoff elections across southeast Louisiana, and hundreds of thousands of dollars were poured into races that usually attract little attention from either campaign donors or the public.

The makeup of BESE was considered a sort of referendum on Jindal's education initiatives — and a decision on whether education policies will be decided by non-traditionalists who support charter school expansion and voucher programs or those backed by teacher unions and traditional public school groups.

Polls close at 8 p.m. Turnout was expected to be light.

The only item on the ballot statewide was a proposal to change Louisiana's Constitution to ban the state and local governments from levying a tax on the sale or transfer of homes and property, called a real estate transfer tax.

Supporters of the amendment, pushed by the Louisiana Realtors organization, said the tax can keep some people from being able to afford a home. Opponents questioned the need for a ban on a tax that doesn't yet exist and said local governments and their voters should decide if such taxes are needed.

Under the constitutional amendment, New Orleans' existing real estate transfer tax would be grandfathered in, but couldn't be raised.

Among the highest-profile races on Saturday's ballot were for the unpaid, usually low-profile BESE posts.

In a district based in New Orleans and stretching up the Mississippi River, challenger Kira Orange Jones, a Teach of America leader in New Orleans hoped to replace incumbent Louella Givens. Both are Democrats.

Incumbent Chas Roemer, a Republican and son of former Gov. Buddy Roemer, faced a challenge from Democrat Donald Songy, a former superintendent of Ascension Parish public schools, for a Baton Rouge-based BESE seat.

In another Baton Rouge-area district, newcomers Jimmy Guillory and Carolyn Hill hoped to replace incumbent Linda Johnson, who didn't run for re-election. Guillory is an independent and retired businessman from Plaucheville. Carolyn Hill is a Democrat and social worker from Baton Rouge.

Jones, Roemer and Hill had the backing of groups that want to continue and expand major changes in education policy that have occurred over the last decade, including state takeovers of failing local schools and greater reliance on independently run charter schools.

They had the backing of the Alliance for Better Classrooms, a Baton Rouge-based political action committee started by politically active businessman Lane Grigsby, and the Louisiana Federation for Children, part of a national group that pushes for school vouchers.

In addition, Roemer was endorsed by Jindal.

Givens, Songy and Guillory were backed by the Coalition for Public Education, a group that includes teacher unions, organizations of school board members and administrators and other education groups that are critical of the loss of local authority over schools and that question the effectiveness of the state education overhaul.

BESE takes a back seat to state lawmakers in setting policy but the board plays a key role in implementing the laws for more than 680,000 public school students, and it chooses a state superintendent.

Saturday's results could determine whether John White, head of the state-run Recovery School District, is elevated to the superintendent post when the new term begins in January. White is Jindal's choice to replace Paul Pastorek, who stepped down earlier this year.

The superintendent's vacancy so far resulted in a stalemate on the 11-member board. Jindal appoints three BESE members, but it takes eight votes to choose a superintendent, and the governor's been unable to get the supermajority for White.

Several candidates have generally stopped short of making a commitment to vote for or against White, but the ABC-backed candidates and White share common views on policy. A victory by any of the three in Saturday's races is seen as a likely step toward promoting him to Pastorek's old job.

Meanwhile, in the Legislature, four Senate seats remain undecided, along with 21 House seats. In three Senate races, former lawmakers are seeking to regain old posts they left over the past decade, and in several House contests, incumbents are fighting to hold onto their jobs.

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Online:

Louisiana Secretary of State: www.geauxvote.com

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AP reporter Kevin McGill contributed to this story from New Orleans.