Early voting turnout light

UNDATED - Early voting was light for Tuesday's elections in Gainesville and two towns in the South Hall area.

In Gainesville, Flowery Branch and Braselton, turnouts totaled less than 300 voters each.

Braselton led the way, in both raw numbers and percentage-wise. By mid-afternoon Friday, just a couple of hours before the close of early voting, 290 ballots had been cast out of 4,029 registered voters. Braselton is the scene of an "open" mayor's race this fall. Longtime Mayor Pat Graham is giving up the post in order to run for state Senate next year.

In Gainesville, by late afternoon Friday, 261 votes had been cast in early voting out of 12,310 registered voters. On the ballot in Gainesville Tuesday will be two contested city school board races and two non-binding questions dealing with changing the way the mayor and school board chairman are selected.

In Flowery Branch, by late afternoon also, 44 votes had been cast out of 2,814 registered voters. Voters there will be chosing three new city council members since the incumbents in the three posts up for grabs this year decided not to run again.