LUMBERTON — On Tuesday, 69 candidates for public office in Robeson County’s 15 municipalities will be seeking a share of 18,508 votes that are eligible to be cast in the election.

As of 4 p.m. Thursday, 914 votes had been cast during early voting, which ended at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Those who have not voted can do so beginning at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at 41 polling sites throughout the county. Less than a quarter of eligible voters are expected to come out, said Dock Locklear, director of the Robeson County Board of Elections. He said a 22 percent turnout is average for municipal elections.

“We have pockets that will vote heavily in some districts, and have others that’ll vote hardly at all,” he said.

A high number of votes in some places and low in others tip the turnout results, so they can look artificially high.

“The race in district 5 is going to be a heavy turnout there,” Locklear said, observing that 32 percent of the eligible voters there had already voted in the race between incumbent John Cantey and challenger Patricia McRae. In the hotly contested race, McRae filed a challenge on Oct. 23, claiming nine voters registered to vote with invalid addresses. The Elections Board will hear evidence concerning the allegations at a probable cause hearing on Monday.

As of Thursday, 531 people had voted in the Precinct 5 race — more than all the other early votes combined — as part of early voting, which began Oct. 15.

Of the 6,785 Lumberton voters eligible to vote in the precinct 2, 3, 5 and 8 elections, 644 have already voted, most of them in Precinct 5 and Precinct 3, where former Councilman Woody Huggins is challenging incumbent Jackie Taylor. By Thursday, 59 votes were cast in Precinct 3.

Municipal elections in Robeson County are non-partisan. In Lumberton and St. Pauls, voting is divided into districts, but all the districts are up for election in St. Pauls. The only municipal residents in the county ineligible to vote will be those represented on the Lumberton City Council by the following: Precinct 1’s Don Metzger, Precinct 4’s Harry Ivey, Precinct 6’s Robert Jones, or Precinct 7’s Leon Maynor.

The other 13 municipalities have citywide votes, so all registered voters can cast ballots, and the candidates who garner the most votes fill the open seats on the town board. There are mayor race in all the municipalities except Lumberton, Rowland, Pembroke and St. Pauls.

In Fairmont and Red Springs, where longtime mayors are being challenged, there have not been a significant number of early votes.

By the end of the day Thursday, 88 votes had been cast in the Fairmont mayoral race, where Charles Kemp is seeking a second term, and John Jackson, a former town commissioner, is challenging him for 2,086 votes.

Only eight early votes had been cast in Red Springs, where George Paris, mayor for 30 years, is running for re-election against challenger John McNeill, who has served on the town board for 34 years. There are 2,469 eligible voters in Red Springs.

In Pembroke, where four people are vying for two seats on the Town Council, 158 early votes have been cast, of 2,315 voters.

The weather for Tuesday, forecast for a high of 68 degrees and sunny, shouldn’t be a deterrent.

All the polling sites are the same as the last election, except in Red Springs, where voters should go to the community building at 122 Craw St.

The chief judge at each site will have a printed list of all the names and addresses of people eligible to vote. When a voter arrives, the judge will ask for that information. A selection of people chosen randomly by a computer will have to show additional identification — a way of spot-checking — that could include a photo ID.

The vote tally on election day is unofficial. Locklear said that by the Tuesday following the election, Nov. 10, the Board of Elections will have canvassed the entire electoral process, which means going back and verifying the legitimacy of absentee votes, early votes, and provisional ballots.

Provisional ballots — ballots that are considered suspect and must be verified later — are counted six days after the election.

There are no automatic vote recounts in non-partisan elections. Recounts only happen by candidate request, which is permitted if the margin between the disputed totals is less than 1 percent of the entire number of votes.

Once the Board of Elections determines the count is correct, it submits the number to the state as the official count.

Winning candidates are sworn in during December.