MOULTRIE, Ga. – There may be a lot of traffic out on the interstate highway, but as long as the cars are moving, you will get where you’re going in good time.

Such was the case with Monday’s early voting in Colquitt County for Jan. 5’s runoff.

With ads galore all over television and radio – not to mention an appearance in Valdosta by the President of the United States – for the two Georgia U.S. Senate races, citizens are taking this election seriously. It means which party will have the majority in the Senate.

Paula McCullough, Colquitt County registrar, said 595 votes were cast on the first day.

“It was non-stop,” she said. The Colquitt County Courthouse Annex, the only place to vote early locally, opens at 8 a.m., and McCullough said people were waiting at the door as long as 20 minutes.

The same scene played itself out on Oct. 12, the first day of early voting for the Nov. 3 General Election. In all, 8,077 votes were cast early in person, the most (707) coming on the final day.

By 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, 92 more voters showed up to make a selection not just for two U.S. Senate seats, but also a seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission.

Out of the nearly 600 votes cast Monday, McCullough said a small percentage had received absentee ballots by mail but opted to show up in person. When that happens, the mailed ballot must first be cancelled. McCullough said if the voter does not bring that ballot with him or her to be cancelled, then it requires filling out an affidavit.

That is the one reason, she said, there were any delays in the line. In other cases, a voter’s name was shown on the list.

“We had no real problems,” said McCullough. “It went pretty smoothly.”

Early voting continues Wednesday through Friday of this week, Dec. 21-23 and Dec. 28-31. 

Statewide, voters are choosing between incumbent David Perdue, a Republican, and Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, for one U.S. Senate seat; between incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, for the state’s other Senate seat; and between incumbent Republican Lauren “Bubba” McDonald and Daniel Blackman, a Democrat, for the Public Service Commission. Across Georgia, voters will also cast ballots in a handful of local runoffs, but none of them involve Colquitt County.