Primary voting kicked off Monday as Scotland County voters began requesting absentee ballots.

Dell Parker, director of the Scotland County Board of Elections, said four people have requested ballots so far and expects many more to do so before the April 26.

There are two ways someone can can request an absentee ballot.

The board of elections has a form that's available at its office and on the website: www.scotlandcounty.org/ElectionsBrochures.htm. This form may either be mailed or brought to the office in person.

People may also write a letter to the board making the request that includes their name, address and party affiliation.

Parker stressed that each voter must fill out a form or write their own letter. If, for example, a husband and wife attempt to write a single letter requesting ballots for the couple, the letter will be deemed invalid, she said.

So far, four registered voters in Scotland County have requested ballots.

The ballots must be returned in person by May 3 or must be postmarked by May 3 and be received within three days of the election to be counted, Parker said.

She noted that someone may have a near relative return the ballot, but they may not have a friend or neighbor turn in the ballot on their behalf. According to Parker, the ballot is considered compromised when someone outside of the voter or an immediate family member returns it and the votes simply do not count.

Parker also stressed that unaffiliated voters have a choice in which ballot they request. Voters without a party affiliation may vote in the Democratic or Republican primaries or vote just on unaffiliated races. If an unaffiliated voter does not designate which primary they wish to vote in when they make the request, they will automatically be given an unaffiliated ballot.

Scotland County has 22,089 registered voters – 14,006, or 63.4 percent, are registered as Democrats, 3,739, or about 16.9 percent, are registered as Republicans, eight are registered as Libertarians and 4,336, or 19.6 percent, are unaffiliated.

The last day to register to vote in the May 4 primary is April 9. One-Stop Early Voting begins April 15.