Early voting for Colorado’s Aug. 12 primary election started with a whimper Saturday as fewer than 180 people in El Paso County cast ballots, the county’s top election official said.

    “We expect this to be a very busy primary election, but you couldn’t gauge that by today’s low turnout,” said county Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink in an e-mail Saturday.

    Voters have a range of options for how to cast ballots, including three locations for early voting today through Friday:
    
• Centennial Hall, 200 S. Cascade Ave., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
    
• The Citadel mall, Suite 3124 on the upper level near J.C. Penney, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
    
• Chapel Hills Mall, Suite 179 on the lower level near the food court escalator, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

    Voting by mail, meanwhile, has gained popularity in the county.

    More than 68,000 ballots have been mailed for the primary, and about 28,000 were returned by Friday afternoon, Balink said. Two deadlines are approaching for people who want to vote by mail.

    To have a mail-in ballot mailed to a voter, the voter’s application must be received by 5 p.m. Tuesday. Voters have until 5 p.m. Friday to complete an application and pick up a mail-in ballot in person at the downtown election office at Centennial Hall.

    Mail-in ballots have to be received (not just postmarked) at the election office by 7 p.m. Aug. 12.

    For details, visit http://car.elpasoco.com/election or contact the Election Department at 575-8683.