Gov. Kay Ivey has changed the date for the election to fill the U.S. Senate seat previously held by Jeff Sessions.

Ivey scheduled the election for this year. Former Gov. Robert Bentley had scheduled it for next year.

Under a proclamation Ivey signed today, the primary will be August 15, the runoff, if necessary, will be Sept. 26 and the general election will be Dec. 12.

"I promised to steady our ship of state," Ivey said in a press release today. "This means following the law, which clearly states the people should vote for a replacement U.S. Senator as soon as possible."

Sessions vacated the seat to become U.S. Attorney General. In February, Bentley appointed then-Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange to fill the seat on a temporary basis until a special election.

Bentley later scheduled the special election to coincide with the regular election cycle next year, with the primary in June and general election in November.

The Alabama Legislative Black Caucus, Secretary of State John Merrill, State Auditor Jim Zeigler and others contended that state law required the election to be sooner.

The Legislative Black Caucus asked Bentley to change the date. Zeigler filed a lawsuit seeking an earlier date.

The Legislative Reference Service researched the issue in response to numerous questions and determined the election should be held sooner than the 2018 cycle.

Bentley argued that the dates he chose complied with the law. The former governor also expressed concerns about the cost of a special election.

Strange released a statement after Ivey's announcement today:

"As I've said for months, I'm a candidate and I'm ready to run whether the election is next month or next year. As the only announced candidate for this office, I will spend the next several months being the best Senator I can be, upholding Alabama values and working with President Donald Trump to drain the swamp and help make America great again. The people of Alabama deserve nothing less and ultimately it will be up to them to decide who will represent them in Washington."

At a press conference this afternoon, Ivey said she spoke to Strange before making her announcement.

"I called him this morning and gave him a heads-up," Ivey said. "He's the only announced candidate that I know of and also holds the position. So we had a very comfortable conversation."

During Ivey's first press conference as governor last week, she said she was concerned about the cost of holding a special election, estimated to be a total of about $15 million for all three rounds, primary, runoff and general.

Today, the governor said said she had spoken with the state finance director and determined that expenditure would not impede any major functions of state government. Ivey noted that the cost would be spread over two fiscal years, 2017 and 2018.

As for the specific dates, the governor said those were picked in consultation with Secretary of State Merrill. Ivey said Merrill gave her dates for consideration, and she chose the earliest of those.

Code of Alabama, Section 36-9-8, says that if a vacancy occurs in a Senate seat more than four months before a general election, the governor is to call a special election "forthwith."

Bentley interpreted that to mean that he had to announce the election date "forthwith," rather than that the election had to be held "forthwith."

Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, who had argued for an earlier election date, issued a statement today:

"Governor Ivey's announcement this morning puts us one step closer to turning the page on this ugly and shameful period in our state history. This demonstrates a departure from the backroom politics that we have seen for too long in Montgomery. The people of Alabama have the right to decide who represents our state and now they will have that opportunity."

Updated shortly after 12:30 p.m. with comments from governor's press conference.