With more than one in five Wilkes County voters having already cast their votes for President and local offices, Superintendent of Elections Judge Jim Burton said he's expecting record crowds of voters at polling places here next Tuesday.

More than 1,200 Wilkes voters took the opportunity to cast their ballots in the early voting period which began September 22 and ended last Friday, October 24. The advance voting period, during which a reason to vote early is required, began Monday, October 27, and ends Friday, October 31.

Election Day is next Tuesday, November 4, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and all polling places in the county will be open. Everyone desiring to vote will need to provide photo identification, Registrar Gladys Reese said.

Across Georgia as of Monday, more than a million voters had cast early ballots, almost 20 percent of registered voters. The early voting bill recently passed by the Georgia legislature changed Georgia's election law to allow for in-person, noexcuse absentee voting for a full 45 days prior to the election.

Since the Wilkes County Courthouse is now a polling place, campaigning and posting political signs are not allowed within 150 feet of the courthouse, Judge Burton said.

There is plenty of time to examine a sample ballot, Judge Burton said. "There are sample ballots posted at the courthouse, and The News- Reporter has run a copy of them so people can become familiar with everything on the ballot."

Choices that Wilkes County voters face on the ballot include not only president and other national offices, it includes contested local races. In those races, voters are choosing between Democrat Mark Moore and Republican Jeff Johnson to be the new Wilkes County Sheriff, and among eight candidates - Tammy Thornton Bryngleson, Thomas Charping, Rod Canterbury, Kimberly Rainey, Deborah Davis, Jill Rogers, Jerry Thornton, and Will Long - for Wilkes County Probate Judge. Rosa Lee Martin, incumbent candidate for magistrate judge is opposed by Tommy Saggus.

There are numerous local county offices that are uncontested in this election, including two Wilkes County Commission seats and the offices of Clerk of Superior Court, Tax Commissioner, Surveyor, Coroner, and three seats on the Board of Education.

Judge Burton said that whatever the outcome of Tuesday's election, history will record that Jack E. Newsome, unopposed candidate for county surveyor, will be the first Republican elected in Wilkes County since Reconstruction.