The first week of early voting for the Feb. 5 party primaries has gone slowly, according to election administrator Summer Leverette.

"It's very slow," she said. As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, only 336 voters had voted in person, with another 53 voting by mail.

The county has 21,621 registered voters.

Part of the problem is that with no incumbent, and with this year's crowded and unsettled presidential fields in both parties, some voters may be waiting until closer to Election Day so that they don't cast a wasted early vote on someone who winds up dropping out of the race.

"I think that's what a lot of people are doing," said Leverette.

The first week of voting also included a federal holiday on Monday, during which the office was closed.

There are both Democratic and Republican primaries in the presidential race. For local offices, only the Democratic party leadership requested a primary. Only two local offices are up for election: highway superintendent and assessor of property. In both cases, the incumbent candidates are running unopposed in the Democratic primary, and so they will also be unopposed on the August general election ballot.

Tennessee does not have party registration, and so anyone may vote in either the Democratic or the Republican party, but you may vote in only one party's primary on a given election day. So voters can't vote in the Democratic primary for local offices and the Republican primary for president at the same time.

Early voting continues until Jan. 31. Early voting hours, in the basement of the county courthouse, are 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, except that the office stays open until 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday and opens early at 7 a.m. on Friday; and 9 a.m. until noon on Saturday. The election office can be reached at 684-0531 for more information.

On Election Day, Feb. 5, polls will be open from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. Nashville TV stations sometimes announce a 7 a.m. start time as if it were standard everywhere, but Bedford County elections have started at 9 a.m. for decades. Election officials have said in the past that extending the start time to 7 a.m. would require hiring a second shift of poll workers, which would increase the cost of each election.