DES MOINES (AP) — Though the election is still a month away, nearly 200,000 Iowans have already cast their ballots and the pace of early voting is likely to quicken beginning this week, election officials said.

Still, the pace of early voting isn’t keeping pace with the election four years ago when groups such as MoveOn.org made absentee voting a centerpiece of their strategy.

“That’s not taking place like it did four years ago,” said Secretary of State Michael Mauro, the state’s top election official.

Four years ago, 460,059 people cast ballots before the election, nearly a third of the 1,506,008 who voted. As of Monday afternoon, 191,718 had cast ballots, but a shift in political strategy could swell that number quickly.

Local election officials opened satellite voting operations on Monday, allowing voters to cast ballots at libraries, community centers and other spots. They have reported brisk business.

“As far as the Democrats, they are focusing on satellite voting,” said Mauro.

Brad Anderson, a spokesman for Obama’s Iowa campaign, said there are more than 140 satellite voting locations around the state, and neighborhoods surrounding the stations have been targeted with direct mail and door-knocking campaigns, telling residents where they can vote early.

“Every day is election day from here on,” said Anderson.

Democrats in particular have targeted early voting as a strategy, because it reduces the workload on Election Day and allows organizers to target people they know are likely to vote for their candidate.

As voters have grown more comfortable over the years with early voting, the numbers have mushroomed, Mauro said.

“We went through some real growing pains here in Iowa with it, but I think voters are comfortable with it and once a voter feels comfortable with that process and they feel their vote is safe and secure and they understand the process, I think convenience becomes a matter for people,” said Mauro. “They want to take advantage of that convenience and participate early.”

Early turnout has been heavy in some traditionally Democratic counties like Polk, where 25,393 have voted. Other Democratic counties with substantial number include Johnson (10,641) and Dubuque (7,094).

Some Republican-leaning counties are showing activity as well. Sioux County had 1,232 early votes, while Benton County had 1,304.

The election, however, is likely to be decided in big swing counties like Linn, where 15,397 had voted, and Scott, where the number was 12,478.