Early voting in Prairie County is running more than 7% ahead of the pace of the 2022 midterm election as voters prepare for Tuesday’s general election.

As of Saturday, Oct. 31, a total of 966 Prairie County residents had cast ballots early, compared with 902 at the same point four years ago. That’s an increase of 7.1%, according to the Arkansas Early Vote Tracker.

Monday is the final day of early voting, with polls closing at 5 p.m. On Election Day, polls will be open Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Prairie County has two early voting locations, one at each county courthouse.

At the courthouse in Des Arc, 516 people had voted as of Saturday, averaging 43 per day. The courthouse in DeValls Bluff recorded 450 voters, averaging approximately 38 per day.

The increase in Prairie County is consistent with much of the state, where early voting has risen compared with the 2022 midterm election. According to the tracker, 42 of Arkansas’ 75 counties are ahead of their 2022 pace, while 18 are within 5% of their previous totals. The remaining 15 counties are more than 5% behind.

Prairie County has 4,862 registered voters, meaning 19.9% had cast ballots as of Saturday. All 966 ballots recorded by the tracker were cast in person, with no absentee ballots included in the reported total.

The number represents approximately 36% of the 2,696 votes cast in Prairie County during the entire November 2022 general election.

An analysis of voter participation shows that residents age 65 and older account for a larger share of early ballots than they did four years ago.

Of the 966 people who had voted, 537 were 65 or older, representing 55.6% of the total. At the same point in 2022, that age group accounted for 49.5% of early voters.

Meanwhile, younger age groups account for a smaller share of the early vote than in 2022.

Voters ages 50 to 64 accounted for 26.6% of ballots cast, compared with 30.7% in 2022. Those ages 35 to 49 represented 12%, down slightly from 12.6% four years ago.

Residents ages 18 to 24 accounted for 2.3% of early voters, compared with 2.9% in 2022, while those ages 25 to 34 made up 3.5%, down from 4.3%.

Combined, voters age 50 and older accounted for more than 82% of early ballots cast in Prairie County.

The figures come from the Arkansas Early Vote Tracker, which analyzes voter participation and compares turnout with previous elections. The data does not indicate which candidates voters supported.

The final early voting total will not be known until Monday’s ballots are included, and overall turnout will also depend on the number of voters who go to the polls Tuesday.