Kansas University student Brian Thomas opted to make his voice heard early.

He voted Thursday at the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Mass.

“It’s nice to not have to worry about it on Election Day,” said Thomas, a political science student at KU.

Wednesday was the first day of advance voting. The polling area at the Douglas County Courthouse hasn’t been crowded enough to split its seams, but a steady stream of people has flowed in to cast early ballots in the presidential election.

By end of the day Thursday, 355 people had voted in Douglas County. Thursday, 184 people voted — an increase over Wednesday’s 171 ballots.

Marni Penrod, election clerk for Douglas County, said she didn’t know whether the county was experiencing record turnouts for advance voting. The office hasn’t kept track of daily totals in past years.

But a record number of ballots have been mailed. The election office mailed 3,409 ballots on Wednesday, more than double the 1,601 ballots sent during the last presidential election on Oct. 16, 2000.

“I think advance voting, in general, is kind of catching on,” Penrod said. “I think people are just learning that it’s more convenient. But I think there also is renewed interest in voting. People seem to realize that their vote counts.”

Penrod said the fact that was a highly contested presidential race hadn’t hurt.

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