MOULTRIE, Ga. — Voters will go to the polls at least two times this year — and possibly more — to pick a replacement for the late Luke Strong Jr. in the Colquitt County Commission District 1 seat. Candidate qualifying will begin on Monday for the first round.

First up is a special election to pick someone to fill the unexpired term for Strong — whose nearly three decades in office means that no current commission members and few current county employees ever served with any other person in that office.

Strong’s seat, which he had held since 1987, has been unfilled since his death in September. The election in March will determine who will serve for the remaining year.

After Strong’s death in late September, the March 20 date was the first date on the calendar for which the state allows elections to be held that realistically could be met.

“This will get our year started early,” said Colquitt County Probate Judge Wes Lewis, whose office oversees elections. “I know the voters in District 1 will have a lot of interest.”

Qualifying for the special election will run from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday and 9 a.m.-noon on Wednesday at the Colquitt County Courthouse. The qualifying fee is $126, which represents 3 percent of the annual salary for the office.

The special, nonpartisan, election is somewhat different from a traditional race in that while candidates will declare a party affiliation there will be no party primaries.

The candidate who gets 50 percent plus one vote on March 20 will be the winner. If a runoff is necessary, the top two vote recipients from that contest would be on the April 17 ballot.

“(That winner) will take the seat as soon as the election is certified,” Lewis said, referring to the official process that usually takes a few days after the election to complete.

Early voting begins three weeks prior to the March 20 election and will be held at Colquitt County Courthouse Annex. Only voters in District 1, which includes Moultrie and Shaw voter precincts, will participate.

With that out of the way, the election year will move on to May 22 primary elections in which candidates can vie for a full four-year term in District 1 that will begin on Jan. 1, 2019.

“In reality, you will have two qualifying terms” for that seat, Lewis said, “one for the unexpired term and then another one for the full term later in the year.”

Commission Districts 3, 5 and 7 also will be on that ballot, as will nonpartisan Colquitt County School Board Districts 1, 4 and 5. Barring runoffs, the nonpartisan races will be decided in May, but if there are both Republican and Democratic Party winners in the other primaries, they’ll face one another in a general election in November.

Driving turnout in a non-presidential election year will be primary elections for governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and other statewide races, which also will be on that May 22 ballot, Lewis said.

The governor’s race, in which voters will be casting ballots to fill the seat held by Gov. Nathan Deal, who is term-limited after winning two four-year terms in office, should be a big draw, he said.

Other primaries for the Georgia Legislature and U.S. House races also could be on the ballot.

Lewis predicted that “2018 will be an interesting year. You’ll definitely have congressional races as well.”