The pace of voters taking advantage of early ballots for the Aug. 5 General and State Primary elections is picking up with only three days remaining after today.

Nearly 7,000 have already voted.

The Bradley Square Mall satellite voting location remains the busiest precinct, followed by the Bradley County Elections Office located in the Courthouse Annex in downtown Cleveland.

According to data from the office, 3,705 voted at the Bradley Square site, 2,101 at the Annex and 1,058 at Blythe-Bower, and 112 mail-in ballots have been received.

The number of voters who had made their choices early was 6,976 as of this morning.

The Elections Office data also indicated 6,199 Republican Primary ballots had been cast compared to 658 Democratic Primary ballots.

Historically, during the 2006 election process, 9,979 voters cast early ballots.

A total of 17,170 votes were cast in early and election-day voting in 2006 when Tim Gobble (R) defeated Chris Watson (D) for the Bradley County sheriff’s position.

Election officials remind voters the two satellites and the office downtown are open for voting from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Mimi Angel, deputy administrator, also reminds voters that longer lines (up to 30 minutes wait time) at the Bradley Square site can be avoided by driving downtown to take advantage of the Election Office.

For additional information, visit www.clevelandbanner.com and click on the Bradley County Elections Office link.