CAIRO — Voters in the Cairo mayoral election are increasingly turning toward casting their ballots by mail amid concerns of the coronavirus pandemic.

City Clerk Dana Barfield said 71 individuals have cast their ballots by mail so far this year, a number she said is higher than normal. That’s in comparison to just 16 mail-in ballots during the previous mayoral election in 2017.

Another 126 voters cast their ballots early in-person at the Grady Cultural Center.

For countywide elections, more than 2,000 votes have been cast by mail as of Friday compared to just 495 who have voted in-person, according to elections supervisor Denise Maddox. The county’s previous high mark for mail-in ballots was 600 during the 2018 general election.

In total, 1,300 Republicans and 658 Democrats have voted so far in the primary. Another 37 non-partisan votes have been cast.

The early voting period will conclude Friday, June 5. In the meantime, early votes can continue to be cast between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Grady County courthouse for the county elections and at the Grady Cultural Center for the city election.

The general primary election will take place Tuesday, June 9.