Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said indications are his earlier projection of a 25 percent voter turnout today was pretty accurate.

"It looks like we're probably right on target," Merrill said.

Voters are choosing between Democrat Doug Jones and Republican Roy Moore today in the special election for the U.S. Senate.

Asked if there are any specifics about high or low turnout that stand out, Merrill said areas of strong turnout that favor one candidate will likely be offset by strong turnout that favors the other.

"I'm hearing that the turnout in certain areas that might benefit Doug Jones are complemented by heavy turnout in other areas, in some rural parts of the state that would probably complement Judge Moore. So I think that's going to balance itself out if that trend continues," Merrill said.

If the 25 percent projection stand up, it will far exceed the turnout for the primaries and the Republican runoff in the Senate race.

The turnout for the Aug. 15 primary was 18 percent, and the turnout for the Sept. 26 Republican runoff was 15 percent.

Montgomery County Probate Judge Steven Reed said that as of shortly before noon, 16 percent of the county's registered voters had voted in the election. Reed said the peak voting time will probably come after school and work today. Polls close in every county at 7 p.m.

"I think certainly if it keeps tracking kind of where we are, we're looking at certainly north of 25 percent here in the county," Reed said. "And I think that's very healthy for a special election being held in December."

Updated at 12:35 p.m. with information from Montgomery County.