Advance voting at the Douglas County Courthouse ended at noon Monday with 581 people having voted early for Tuesday’s primary election.

Including 382 ballots received in the mail by Monday afternoon, the total number of advance votes in Douglas County was 963, said Patty Jaimes, county clerk.

Jaimes said advance ballots sent in by mail that are received at the courthouse Tuesday also would be counted.

Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh has predicted a statewide turnout of 24 percent  a record low turnout. Jaimes declined to make a specific prediction.

“I’m going to go with what the secretary of state said. It’s going to be a low turnout,” she said.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday for the statewide primary, which features Republican races for most of the top positions in state government.

Only Republicans and Democrats are eligible to vote in the primary.

Unaffiliated voters can declare a party at the time they vote. Affiliated voters who wish to switch parties at the time they vote can fill out a provisional ballot.

The county’s canvassing board, which consists of the three Douglas County commissioners, decides the Friday after the election which provisional ballots to count.

There are 51,400 registered voters in the county.

Of those, 19,709 are Republicans and 15,071 are Democrats. There are also 16,092 unaffiliated voters, 464 Libertarians and 64 Reform Party voters.