Blame the rain, swine flu fears or voter apathy, but early voting in city and school board races was light across Denton County, officials say.

County Elections Administrator Don Alexander said just 8,900 people cast ballots in various municipal and school elections during early voting, which ended Tuesday. The election is Saturday.

Alexander attributed the disinterest to the lack of contested races, with many cities having only one contested seat.

“The only area race I know of is Trophy Club’s, and they have 26 propositions [for charter amendments],” Alexander said.

Voters there will decide whether to combine special taxing districts and eliminate Trophy Club Municipal Utility District No. 2.

The highest number of voters, 1,623, came out in Denton; 1,607 turned out in Flower Mound; and 1,055 voted in The Colony, Alexander said.

He couldn’t comment on elections in some of the smaller cities and schools, such as Sanger and Pilot Point, where local officials did not rent computers to run their elections.

In Corinth, where two council members are vying for the mayor’s chair, 3.2 percent of registered voters came out to cast ballots. But, more than 50 percent, or 211 of those 403 ballots cast, came in the last two days of early voting.

Denton City Secretary Jennifer Walters said turnout seemed light at City Hall during the eight days of early voting. City Hall was the only early voting site for the city and school district races in Denton, and turnout was a fraction of the 56,966 registered voters in the city and 79,931 in the school district.

“I thought it was kind of slow,” Walters said. “I was kind of disappointed more people didn’t take advantage of it.”

Rainy weather and swine flu fears may have kept some voters away, Walters said.

Still, early voting in Denton was roughly on par with recent years.

In 2007, the last year without a mayor’s race on the ballot, Denton voters cast 1,735 early ballots. That number included some Denton County residents who voted on a proposed statewide constitutional amendment as part of a joint election with the city.

Spirited races for mayor and three council seats drew 1,902 Denton residents to the polls for early voting last May, up from 1,619 early votes in May 2006, when the mayor’s seat also was on the ballot. More than 2,400 residents voted early in the mayoral runoff election last June.

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com .

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday in the area city and school district elections. Here are the area’s voting locations.

Town of Argyle and Argyle ISD

Argyle ISD Administration Building

800 Eagle Drive

City of Aubrey and Aubrey ISD

City Hall

107 S. Main St.

Copper Canyon

Town Hall

400 Woodland Drive

City of Corinth and Denton ISD

City Hall

3300 Corinth Parkway

City of Denton and Denton ISD

* District 1: Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, 1300 Wilson St.

* District 2: North Branch Library, 3020 N. Locust St.

* District 3: North Lakes Recreation Center, 2001 W. Windsor Drive

* District 4: Denia Recreation Center, 1001 Parvin St.

Denton ISD

Steven E. Copeland Government Center

1400 FM424, Cross Roads

Hickory Creek

Town Hall

1075 Ronald Reagan Ave.

Krugerville

City Hall

5097 U.S. Highway 377 South

Krum

Krum ISD Administration Building, Board Room

809 E. McCart St.

Lake Dallas

City Hall

212 Main St.

Oak Point

City Hall

100 Naylor Road

City of Pilot Point and Pilot Point ISD

Pilot Point ISD Administration Office

829 S. Harrison St.

Sanger

City Hall

502 N. Elm St.

Shady Shores

Community Center

101 S. Shady Shores Road