If the last seven days of early voting for the May 1 Hamilton County primary election duplicate the first seven days, more than 1,500 fewer voters will cast their ballots than they did in the 2014 Hamilton County primary election.
That's going the wrong way.
Only 4 percent of voters (out of 219,708 eligible voters) cast early votes in 2014, and if the trend continues only 3.8 percent (out of 194,532 eligible voters) will do so this year.
To be fair, the ballots are a little different.
In 2014, there were 10 Republican and four Democratic contested races. This year, there are four Republican and three Democratic contested races.
In addition, there were 11 more county offices (mostly judges) on the ballot in 2014 and two city offices (both judges). Judges, district attorneys general and public defenders all serve eight-year terms, so none are on the ballot this year.
There's another change this year that early voters may have missed. Both the Hixson and East Brainerd/Collegedale early voting locations have changed. The East Brainerd/Collegedale location has moved from Eastwood Baptist Church on Ooltewah-Ringgold Road to Collegedale City Hall (Fuller Community West Room), 4910 Swinyar Drive, while the Hixson location has changed from the North River Civic Center to Hixson Community Center (the former Hixson Middle School), 5401 School Drive.
In the first seven days of early voting, voting peaked on the first day, April 11. To date, the largest turnout has occurred at the Hamilton County Election Commission four times and at the Hixson Community Center three times.
Over that period, 56.1 percent of voters requested a Republican ballot and 43.9 percent a Democratic ballot.
Voters have through April 26 to cast an early ballot, and we hope they will do so or plan to vote on Election Day, despite the small number of competitive races.
Arguably, local lawmakers ponder and pass or reject legislation that has much more of an effect on you than do state or national politicians.
So, make the effort. Do your homework and take the time to vote, either early or on May 1. Nothing more than your county is depending on your choices.