With nearly 7,000 ballots cast in the first week, early voting turnout for the Nov. 6 presidential election likely will get only stronger, Forsyth County election officials say.

“I think it’ll get busier,” said Elections Supervisor Barbara Luth. “And we’ve been keeping up with getting them through within 15 minutes.”

With early voting now offered at two locations, the Forsyth County Administration Building and Cumming City Hall, Luth said it’s easier to accommodate voters, especially with parking.

This week, the administration building saw between 691 and 844 voters per day, for a total of 3,826, while city hall drew 526 to 835 daily for a total of 3,134.

“When people call, we usually tell them to go to city hall first because parking’s a little better,” Luth said.

With the third and final debate between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney scheduled for Monday, Luth expects early voting to pick up.

She anticipates about 40 percent of Forsyth voters will cast a ballot before Nov. 6, with overall turnout for the election as high as 80 percent.

It’s not just a high turnout for people voting in person, mail-in absentee ballots have also come in at a strong rate. Of the 2,760 ballots sent out, about 1,434 have been returned.

“It’s a lot for being this early and we got a bunch more today,” Luth said. “I like that. I like when people send them right back because they don’t forget about them.”

According to Luth, the office is mailing out between 50 and 100 ballots a day and requests are still being made via fax, mail and e-mail.

The office can send ballots out through Nov. 2, but all must be returned by 7 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.

In addition to the race for presidential, the ballot includes congressional contests and a referendum on charter schools in Georgia.

This week, early voting continues Monday through Saturday at the two locations.

The period known as advance voting will begin Oct. 29, expanding from the current locations to an addition three satellite sites: Hampton Park Library; Sharon Springs Park Community Building; and Midway Park Community Building.