Spirited races for mayor and three City Council seats drew 1,902 Denton residents to the polls for early voting.

That’s 17 percent more voters than cast early ballots in 2006, the last election with a mayor’s race.

“I’m just glad to see that the number’s up and that it’s been increasing each year,” City Secretary Jennifer Walters said. “People are taking advantage of early voting. That’s the easiest way to go.”

Early voting ended Tuesday for city and school district races across Denton County.

Election day is Saturday.

Turnout in cities and towns around Den­ton ran hot and cold. Secretaries in several cities with spirited races said emotions were running hot.

In Argyle, 484 voters cast early ballots. That’s 21.6 percent of the city’s 2,244 registered voters.

However, contested races in Sanger, where both the mayor and one council member face challengers to their re-election, failed to energize voters, so far.

“We had very low turnout,” City Secre­tary Rose Chavez said.

In Ponder, where two people are vying for one of the council seats, City Secretary Sheri Clear­man said early voting was lukewarm.

“We had 30, which is about typical,” Clearman said.

In Pilot Point, where the city and school district combined elections, officials reported that half of the 240 ballots were cast in the last two days of early voting, with more than 70 on Tuesday alone.

In Denton, Mayor Perry Mc­Neill, 72, a retired professor and engineer, hopes to overcome three challengers to secure a second term. Businessman Justin Bell, 30, lawyer Mark Burroughs, 50, and college student Darac Favre, 20, are also running for the city’s top elected position.

District 2 council member Pete Kamp, 55, a sales businesswoman, is leaving her seat with a year left in her third term to run for at-large District 5. She faces opposition from business owner Mike Sutton, 54, for the seat that Bob Montgomery is vacating because of term limits.

Escrow officer Rudy Moreno, 61, and real estate businessman John Ryan, 43, are running to succeed Kamp in District 2, which covers northeast Denton. The winner will serve the remaining year of Kamp’s term.

In at-large District 6, second-term council member Joe Mulroy, 58, a businessman, faces insurance salesman Jerry Mohelnitzky, 65.

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 .

Early voting closed Tuesday. Here is a look at early voting turnout in area races, as reported by city secretaries. The election is Saturday.

*From the North Central Texas Council of Governments 2007 population estimates, except Ponder

**From Denton County Elections Administration