The special election for House District 171 is almost designed for small turnout here. The district includes all of Mitchell County but only parts of Colquitt and Decatur counties. The eight precincts in Colquitt County that are involved include some of the county’s smallest.

The election is taking place in January. Nothing else is on the ballot.

None of the candidates are from Colquitt County, and neither was the man they seek to replace, the late Rep. Jay Powell of Camilla.

So we can hardly say we’re surprised that as of 10 a.m. on Friday, the last day of early voting, only 113 Colquitt Countians had cast a ballot.

Tuesday will be the official Election Day. Votes will be cast in the normal polling places for those precincts, 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Colquitt County elections officials will count the ballots — early voting, Election Day and absentee — and send the results to the Secretary of State’s office. Their peers in Mitchell and Decatur counties will do the same. We should know the results late that evening.

If a runoff is needed, it will be Feb. 25 with an appropriate early voting period beforehand.

Runoff or not, the new state representative should be sworn in a few days after a winner is determined. He will serve the rest of this year.

But this is just the first of a long series of elections for Colquitt County voters. 

The presidential preference primary will be March 24. Early voting will begin March 2. This is the election that will determine Republican and Democratic party nominees for the presidency. 

The general primary election — to determine Republican and Democratic party nominees for the other federal, state and county races that are up for election this year — will be May 19. Qualifying will be March 2-6, and early voting will begin April 27. A runoff, if necessary, will be July 21.

State and local non-partisan elections will take place alongside the general primary on May 19. Qualifying, early voting and runoff dates are the same too. Since these candidates don’t compete by party, the winners of the nonpartisan elections will be determined right away; however, they won’t take office until January 2021.

The winners of the general primary, though, are simply the winners among their respective parties, and if there are winners from more than one party, they will face off in the general election Nov. 3. Early voting starts Oct. 12.

On Nov. 3, we’ll select our next president, and rules don’t allow for a runoff. But other races on the ballot that same day could lead to a runoff; if any do, it would be held Dec. 1 for local and state offices and Jan. 5 for federal ones.

So, even after the current special election ends, Colquitt Countians will have no less than three more election days this year — and potentially seven between now and the first week of January.

Representative government is a marathon, not a sprint. It gives a whole new meaning to “exercising your rights” — which we absolutely hope you do, as many times as it takes, so that your voice can be heard.