With the opening of the Rockmart precinct for early voting in the U.S. Senate run-off for both seats, numbers were up for Monday and are expected to continue to climb again today.

Elections Coordinator Brande Coggins reported that 980 ballots were cast in person for early voting, and another 185 absentee ballots were returned to the Board of Elections for the U.S. Senate and Public Service Commission races that end on January 5.

The addition of Monday’s tallies bring the overall total of votes cast to 4,873, and the number of absentee ballots returned to 1,768.

Voters can head to either the Board of Elections in Cedartown at 144 West Ave., or to the Nathan Dean Community Center in Rockmart at 605 Goodyear Ave. from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and Wednesday to cast a ballot, or Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to take part in the run-off for both of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats and a Public Service Commission seat.

In the races, Seantor David Perdue seeks to retain his seat against Jon Ossoff. Senator Kelly Loeffler is also running to retain her appointment to the Seante by defeating Rev. Raphael Warnock in the race.

The Public Service Commission race is between Lauren “Bubba” McDonald Jr. and Daniel Blackmon also went to a run-off allowing voters to choose who will work in that seat in the coming weeks.

Those who need to check the status of their registration, request an absentee ballot or where to head to the polls on January 5 can visit the My Voter Page on the Secretary of State’s website.

Those who want to Early Vote will need their state issued photo ID to participate, and be sure their registration status is up to date.