VALDOSTA – Lowndes County Elections is urging voters to cast their votes as early voting approaches its end.

Supervisor of Elections Deb Cox said the early voting turnout has been slow and informed residents that the Lowndes County Elections Office’s final week operating hours are from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Monday, Oct. 30, to Friday, Nov. 3.

Shared documents showed about 1,056 individuals cast their vote within the first week of advanced voting starting from Monday, Oct. 16, to Sunday, Oct. 22. The largest voting day within the week was Wednesday, Oct. 18, with approximately 199 votes and one provisional ballot.

The second week totaled slightly lower than the first: Only 994 votes were made, the documents said.

Cox explained that only city residents are able to vote in the Nov. 7 election due to the county not having any active contests. Elections are being held for the cities of Dasher, Remerton, Hahira and Valdosta.

Murray Rivette, a retired 91-year old IBM employee and Air Force veteran, has been serving as a greeter during the polls. He’s served in the Lowndes County Elections for the last four years with his first being the presidential election of 2020.

“I love meeting the people. Today, it’s very slow. People come in maybe one to every ten or fifteen minutes. Everybody’s important so it counts,” Rivette said.

He also urges the community to come and place their vote at the polls.

“Some people think that their vote doesn’t count, but every vote does. That’s important that they vote in every election. If you don’t vote you can’t complain about it if the wrong person gets elected,” Rivette said.

Candidates qualified during the week of Aug. 21. Here are the candidates qualified as listed on the Georgia Secretary of State’s office website. The office is using a new system of listing qualifiers, which often does not designate the city in the link title.

Valdosta City Mayor

• Incumbent Scott James Matheson
• Fallon Harris
• J.D. Rice Jr.

City Council District 1

• Incumbent Vivian Miller-Cody
• Yurshema Flanders

City Council District 3

• Incumbent Thomas McIntyre
• India Bell

City Council District 5

• Incumbent Tim Carroll

City Council District 7 (At Large)

• Nick “Big Nick” Harden
• Bill Love
• Alvin Payton Jr.
• Edgar “Nicky” Tooley

Valdosta City School Board

District 4

• Incumbent Tyra Howard

District 5

• Jason Deloach

District 6

• Incumbent Thomas Moseley

City of Hahira

District 2

• Incumbent Kenneth Davis
• Klay Luke

District 3

• Terry Benjamin
• David Lindesy

Dasher City Council

Post 3

• Mike Dasher
• Kenny Holton

Post 4

• Incumbent Anita Armstrong Scott
• Bradley Eyre

City of Remerton

Mayor

• Incumbent Cornelius Holsendolph

City Council At-Large

• Incumbent Steve Koffler
• Toney “Paco” Salcedo
• Incumbent Bill Wetherington

More information: Contact the elections office at (229) 671-2850, e-mail elections@lowndescounty.com, or visit the office at 2808 N. Oak St., 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.