VIDALIA — As of Friday, only approximately 2 percent of Concordia Parish’s registered voters had cast ballots in early voting for the Feb. 9 elections.

Early voting will end today. Votes may be cast at the Registrar of Voter’s Office in the Concordia Parish courthouse between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

By 4 p.m. Friday, after almost five days of early voting, there were only 222 votes cast in person, Registrar of Voters Golda Ensminger said.

The registrar’s office also received 40 mail-in ballots, she said.

“It’s been a pretty slow week, but it has picked up in the last couple of days,” Ensminger said.

She said she had expected a bigger turnout for early voting, but is hard to predict how many people will cast their votes today.

“It may be a real good turnout, but it may not,” she said. “People might come in, but they might just go on with the usual weekend errands.”

On the ballot are local municipal elections, which include mayor of Clayton, Ferriday and Vidalia, chief of police for Clayton and Vidalia and aldermen for all three communities.

Also on the ballot are the Democratic and Republican presidential preference polls.

A lot of voters might not have taken a high interest in the presidential primaries because the national elections are not for several months, Ensminger said.

Early voting is not the same as absentee voting, and to do so those who wish to vote early do not have to have a reason.

Only voters associated with the Democratic and Republican parties may cast ballots for their respective parties in the presidential preference voting.

To cast an early vote, registered voters will need to present a generally recognized picture ID such as a driver’s license or a Louisiana Special ID.