MARIETTA - Advance voting for the July 20 primary election begins Monday and ends Friday at five locations throughout the county.

The July 20 Democratic and Republican primaries include Congressional, state, county and school board races. The benefit of advance voting is that people can choose on their time schedule when and where to vote, county officials say. On July 20, voters must go to their assigned polling location to vote, which can be found at the Georgia Secretary of State's website, www. sos.georgia.gov/MVP/Login.aspx.

The advance voting locations are: East Cobb Government Service Center, 4400 Lower Roswell Road in Marietta; South Cobb Community Center, 620 Lions Club Drive in Mableton; North Cobb Senior Center at Kennworth Park, 4100 Highway 293 (Old Highway 41) in Acworth; Parks Western District Office at Lost Mountain Park, 4845 Dallas Highway in Powder Springs; and the Cobb Board of Elections main office at 736 Whitlock Ave., Suite 400 (West Park Government Center) in Marietta.

Voters must present a valid photo identification at the polling locations.

Acceptable IDs include: a Georgia driver's license; any valid, government-issued photo ID, including a free voter ID card issued by the county registrar or the state Department of Driver Services; a valid U.S. passport; a valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency or entity of the U.S. or state government; a valid U.S. military photo ID; or a valid tribal photo ID.

Registered voters may still participate in early voting at the Cobb Board of Elections office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. There is no voting on July 19. There have been 2,457 votes cast - including 609 Democratic ballots and 1,841 Republican ballots - since early voting began on June 4.

Cobb Elections Director Sharon Dunn said it's too early for her to issue a prediction on voter turnout, saying she waits until early voting is complete.

However, an increase in voter registration usually indicates a high turnout. As of July 1, Cobb has 376,142 registered voters. On July 1, 2008, during the last major election, Cobb had 370,557 registered voters.

The Cobb Board of Elections office can be reached at (770) 528-2581. Voters can find sample ballots, vote-by-mail ballots and other election information on its website, www.cobbelections.org.