Early voting turnout has been high so far, officials say, for the special election to vote on a nine-month, 1 percent sales tax to support the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith. 

By 4 p.m. Friday, the Sebastian County Clerk's office had recorded more than 2,400 ballots for the early voting period that began Tuesday.  Early voting ends Monday and election day is Tuesday. 

The first day of early voting for this special election saw more than 700 voters turn up to the polls at the Sebastian County Courthouse in downtown Fort Smith.  There have also been 135 absentee ballots counted. 

Sebastian County Clerk Sharon Brooks said early voting turnout has been high for this special election.  In comparison, the 2015 special election for streets, parks and trails funding saw only 1,723 early voters, 136 absentee ballots and 6,275 total official votes.  The portion for trails funding was voted down by about 1,000 votes. 

The 2014 library tax special election saw an official turnout of 4,343 ballots cast.  The proposal was also voted down by about 1,200 votes. 

Meghan Hassler, Sebastian County Election Commission coordinator, said the first and last days of early voting usually see the largest number of voters during the early voting period. 

Hassler also said there have been no official complaints filed with the Election Commission in the first week of voting for this special election.  A Cox Communications outage on Thursday did not affect the ability for votes to be counted since all of the votes were being done at one central location at the courthouse and the tablets were not connected to the internet, Brooks explained.  She also noted a state law requires the clerk's office to have battery backup in the event of a power outage.