Voters in Hall County can begin early voting for the Nov. 4 general election today.

Under state law, ballots must be available 45 days before the election, however, the law allows counties that have ballots ready to begin before that time.

"It’s called early voting," said Charlotte Sosebee-Hunter, interim elections director for Hall County. "Voting the week before the election is now called advance voting."

In 2004, 84.7 percent of the registered voters in Hall County turned out for the presidential election. Sosebee-Hunter believes there is even more interest in this year’s race.

"We’ve had people calling to ask when we’re starting," she said. "We’d rather have them come in now instead of bigger crowds on Election Day."

She said a number of absentee requests for military voters outside the country have already arrived, as have requests from older and disabled voters who cannot come to their poling place.

"We’ve had a number of people who wanted to get registered before the cutoff date," she said. Voters have until Oct. 6 to be able to register and vote in the general election.

As of the July 15 primary, there were 73,955 active voters and a total of 80,524 eligible voters, according to Sosebee-Hunter. She said the office has been averaging registration of 1,000 new voters each month.

Early voting will take place at the Hall County Elections Office, 2285 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville, during regular business hours.