Barbara Luth expected turnout to be slow, but not this slow.

Just 340 people have cast ballots in early voting for the May 11 special election to fill the District 9 U.S. House seat, said Luth, Forsyth County’s elections supervisor.

“I really kind of expected a little bit more because of it being a congressional race,” Luth said. “I think it’s going to be a low turnout.”

The winner of the May 11 special election will fill the unexpired term left by Gainesville’s Nathan Deal, who resigned to run for governor.

Early voting opened April 9 at the main elections office. It expanded Monday to five locations countywide.

About 126 people voted Monday. Luth estimated less than 5 percent of the county’s registered voters would cast a ballot during the special election, which likely will cost about $50,000.

The contest has drawn eight candidates — six Republicans, one Democrat and an Independent.

Whoever captures the seat will serve out the remainder of Deal’s term, which expires in January.

With a couple exceptions, most of the special election field has also qualified for the July 20 primary, which is for a full two-year congressional term.

Luth estimates that about 25 percent of registered voters will participate in the July 20 primary election and about 75 percent during the November general election “because of the governor’s race.”

She said the person elected to Congress in May could not be victorious in November.

“It’s very possible. I’ve seen it happen before,” she said. “I’ve seen incumbents lose in a runoff, or the person that gets the highest number of votes in the election lose it in the runoff.”