Secretary of State Mark Martin estimates that there'll be higher voter turnout in 2014 than the last two times that Arkansans were selecting a governor.
In 2010 and 2006, turnout was about 47 percent, state election officials say.
This year, with the governor's office up for grabs and a hotly contested U.S. Senate race, his office predicts turnout will climb to 51 percent.
Martin's spokesman, Laura Labay, said the contested races for the state's constitutional offices, as well as popular ballot initiatives, would drive more voters to the polls.
On Monday, the first day of early voting, 21,094 Arkansans cast ballots, according to a preliminary statistics compiled by Martin's office.
That's down slightly from the 21,575 ballots cast in 2010 on the first day of balloting.
Among those going early -- Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton who cast a ballot at the courthouse in Dardanelle. The parents of the man Cotton hopes to beat, U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, went to the polls in Little Rock on Monday afternoon.
Voting in mid-October is an increasingly common political ritual.
Robert McLarty, head of the Arkansas Democrats' coordinated campaign's effort to increase turnout, said that the age-old photo-op of a candidate casting his ballot on Election Day will soon be a thing of the past.
"Unless you're president, Election Day voting is not the norm anymore," McLarty said. "It's kind of busy on Election Day [for candidates]."
Arkansas started offering early voting in 1995 and it has grown more popular with each campaign cycle, according to Labay.
In 2006, 27 percent of all ballots were cast before Election Day. That climbed to 35 percent in 2010. In 2012 -- a presidential election year -- 44 percent of all ballots were cast early.
The busiest day for early voting has been the Friday before Election Day in recent years, election officials say.
Bryan Poe, the director of the Pulaski County Board of Elections, said this year's total will be good for a midterm election, though it won't be able to match 2012, a presidential election year.
"[Early voting] always spikes in a presidential year, but the overall trend is upwards, and it's a good thing because early voting is an outstanding service provided to the people of Arkansas. I'd like to see it expanded as much as possible," Poe said. "It looks like we're getting quite a bit higher turnout than 2010 but nowhere close to a presidential year."
On Monday, 4,653 early ballots were cast in Pulaski County. On the first day of early voting in the 2010 midterms, only 3,171 votes were cast.
Pulaski County has nine early-voting locations, including one inside the Pulaski County Regional Building at 501 W. Markham St.
At the intersection of Broadway and Markham Street downtown, the foot traffic coming in and out of the voting site was as steady as the lunch traffic on the streets.
Andrea Thompson, 29, said she has voted early in several elections. Working two jobs, she was able to head over to the West Markham Street polling place on her midday break.
"I do [think early voting is more popular]," she said. "It's steady traffic in there."
David Woodlaw, who works as a health care provider, said he prefers voting early because he has to remain flexible with his work schedule. Going in and out within a matter of minutes trumps the romance of voting on Election Day, he said.
"You don't have to deal with the hordes," he said.
David Pryor, the former U.S. senator, said early voting is convenient and leads to higher voter turnout.
"The more people who vote, the better for Democrats," Pryor said. "Early voting helps Democrats. It gives us more time also to help get out our votes."
Republicans were also in get-out-the-vote mode.
After Cotton and his wife, Anna, voted, he urged a Springdale crowd of about 100 people to go and do likewise.
"I can't do it on my own," he said. "I need your help. I need you to go vote today. It matters if you vote early because then that means you can help us get other people to the polls. Maybe people who don't typically vote in midterm elections. Maybe a new resident who just moved here to work for Wal-Mart or a vendor, or maybe a new student at the University of Arkansas --people who don't know where their polling places are."
There'll be plenty of competition for new voters and for old voters who typically skip midterm elections.
McLarty said the Democratic Party's efforts at getting out the vote, with 40 offices across the state and hundreds of volunteers, are bearing fruit.
"We've got offices now with volunteers in Baxter County, [a county] considered a Republican stronghold. ... [Those counties] might still be, but our goal is to increase turnout," McLarty said. "But [gaining] a two or three point bump in Benton County instead of letting them stay home ... it helps."
This weekend, former President Bill Clinton held rallies in five cities, and urged Democrats to vote early.
During a campaign event in Little Rock on Monday, former Gov. Mike Huckabee also urged Republican voters not to procrastinate.
"If you miss an election, you are basically saying, 'Do whatever to me you want to do ... because I didn't vote. I didn't hire you. I can't fire you. I can't touch you,'" Huckabee said. "Starting today, early voting means this: If you like what Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are doing to you at the national level, stay home because they are going to keep doing it if they have the chance," Huckabee said.
Information for this article was contributed by Michael R. Wickline and Bill Bowden of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 10/21/2014