MOULTRIE, Ga. — A week of early voting begins Monday in a runoff election for a Colquitt County Commission seat.

Voters in District 1 can cast ballots from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday at the Colquitt County Courthouse Annex in the runoff election between Darius Dawson and Barbara Jelks.

Voting will also be held on Election Day, April 17, at normal polling places and times.

The runoff was necessary after none of seven candidates seeking to fill the unexpired term of the late Luke Strong Jr. reached a majority of votes.

Only 278 voters cast ballots in the March 20 election in which Jelks finished on top with 90 votes, followed by Dawson with 57 votes.

The 278 votes represented a turnout of less than 9 percent among the 3,158 registered voters in the district.

The winner of the runoff election will serve the remainder of the unfinished term of Strong, who died in September.

Whatever happens in the April 17 runoff election, Dawson and Jelks, along with four of the five candidates who ran in the March 20 election, will be on the May 22 general primary ballot seeking a full term in District 1.

Five of those candidates — Jeron Bridges, Dawson, Jelks, Susie Magwod-Thomas and James Weeks — are running on the Democratic ticket. Stacey Williams qualified as a Republican and will face the Democratic nominee in the fall general election.