As polls open this morning, 3,721 early Richmond County voters have already cast their ballots, about twice the number as did so in the much more populous Mecklenburg County.

Polls across the county will open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. After that, all that will be left to do is the counting.

To illustrate the immensity of the turnout of early voters in the county, the last two primary elections in Richmond County failed to draw 1,000 early voters either time, at about 900 and 600, respectively.

Richmond County’s 3,721 also roughly doubles the number of early voters who turned out in Mecklenburg County, where there were 1,873 early voters. While Richmond County has about 30,000 total voters, Mecklenburg has 470,508.

County Elections Director Connie Kelly said the inordinate turnout can, in large part, be attributed to the heated races for sheriff and district attorney.

This is only the second time in more than half a century that there is no incumbent in the race for Sheriff of Richmond County, and D.A. Michael Parker has been embroiled in a primary battle with fellow Democrat and Richmond County native Reece Saunders.

Kelly continued to explain voters who are unsure which precinct they should vote in have a couple of ways of determining where they should go to cast their ballots.

“First and foremost, you can call the Richmond County Board of Elections,” Kelly said. “Their second option is to visit the state board of elections Web site and click on the voter registration tab, then the tab that says check your registration and finally the tab that says show me my registration.”

She explained voters who choose the Internet will be required to enter their name, address and birth date to find out where they should vote.

“Also, if a voter has moved since the last they voted and hasn’t changed their registration, they may need to call us to determine where they should vote,” Kelly said.

In addition, unaffiliated voters have the option of choosing to vote in either party’s primary, or a non-partisan ballot.

The onus is on them to ask poll workers for their chosen ballot, though.

A precinct-by-precinct breakdown of Tuesday’s election will appear in Thursday’s Daily Journal.

The following candidates are on the ballot:

Sheriff (choose one)

Democrats - James Clemmons, Bo Frye, Eddie Martin and Wendall Sessoms.

Republicans - Doug Brown and Georgia Cagle.

District Attorney

(choose one)

Democrats - incumbent Michael Parker and challenger Reece Saunders.

County Commission (choose four)

Democrats - incumbents Pam Dillman, Jimmy Maske, Thad Ussery and Paul “Junior” Wilson; challengers Don Bryant, Jimmy Capps, Tony Martin, Greg Norton, Larry Rogers and H.L. Webb.

Board of Education

(non-partisan, choose four)

Incumbents Pam Easterling, Ed Ormsby and Tom McInnis; challengers Irene Pittman Aiken and Joe Richardson.

U.S. Senate (choose one)

Democrats - Cal Cunningham, Susan Harris, Ken Lewis, Elaine Marshall, Marcus W. Williams and Ann Worthy.

Republicans - incumbent Richard Burr; challengers Eddie Burks, Brad Jones and Larry Linney.

U.S. House (choose one)

Democrats - incumbent Larry Kissell; challenger Nancy Shakir.

Republicans - challengers Lee Cornellson, Darrell Day, Tim D’Annunzio, Lou Huddleston, Harold Johnson and Hal Jordan.

Court of Appeals Judge (non-partisan, choose one)

Ann Marie Calabria, Jane Gray and Mark E. Klass.

Court of Appeals Judge (non-partisan, choose one)

Alton D. “Al” Bain, Leto Copley, Rick Elmore and Steven Walker.

Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.