Smith: 'I was very much at peace'

Sheriff-elect Blaise Smith said he was calm Saturday night.
That’s different than in the first round, when he said he was much more anxious.
“The one thing about it, when we were sitting there Saturday when it started, I was very much at peace,” Smith said. “It could have went either way, and I was at peace with it.”
He said when absentee votes came in, showing some 70 votes ahead in favor of incumbent Sheriff Scott Anslum, “I felt comfortable with that since that wasn’t a big margin.”
Smith said that sense of calm came from knowing he had done all that he could do at that point. “I just offered myself to the parish and to the citizens,” he said. “Apparently my message was something they heard, and they wanted.”
He will be sworn in on Dec. 18 pending final promulgation of the votes.