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Voting continues for this year’s LaGrange Has Talent, which is set to make its live return in November.

A total of ten acts are vying to win the fifth annual talent competition and the top prize of $2,000.

Online voting for the competition began on Oct. 1 and will continue throughout the month. The top 10 acts will then be invited to perform in front of a live audience at a judged event on Nov. 17.

LaGrange Has Talent Chair Melissa Miller said this year’s voting has started strong. People can vote for their favorite act at lagrangehastalent.com. Voting is done by monetary donations for each performer where $1 equals one vote for the act. Proceeds from the event go to help fund local United Way initiatives.

“We’ve had quite a few votes coming in in the first two weeks, and there’s been a lot of activity with voting,” Miller said.

Voting for the completion is really tight halfway through the initial voting phase with no clear leader.

“They’re all just really close. All of the voting is within $15 of each other. So, there’s no real clear leader right now,” Miller said. “That’s typical because the real big activity comes in the last three or four days.”

Voting for the People’s Choice Award will continue throughout the event.

Typically, a large portion of the donations come in during the live event, according to Miller.

“Last year, about 35 percent of what we raised was during the show,” she said.

The event also traditionally has a raffle to raise funds in conjunction with the competition. Miller said this year competitors are being allowed to sell raffle tickets as part of their fundraising for votes.

The raffle tickets are $10 per ticket and $25 for three tickets, so if they sell the three-ticket deal, that’s 25 votes for them.

The prize for the raffle is a package organizers are calling “Experience LaGrange,” which includes places to stay and visit around LaGrange.

The package includes: six day-passes to Great Wolf Lodge, four tours of Hills & Dales Estate, four tours of the Biblical History Center, two wine tastings at Nutwood Winery, a $100 gift certificate to Wild Leap Brewery, a $100 gift certificate to Mare Sol, a $100 gift certificate to Beacon Brewery and two nights at the Courtyard by Marriott.

Miller said that the competition is the signature issues fundraiser for United Way of West Georgia. Funds from the event go to help pay for local early learning initiatives like the Jungle Bus and Success by Six.

They also support local daycares and pediatrician offices with books for new parents to help young children become successful when they get to school, Miller added.

The final completion will be held during a live event at Callaway Auditorium in LaGrange on Thursday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m.

The finalists are the Amber Norton, Chattahoochee Rhythm Keepers; Esther Duke; Jordan-Taylor McIntosh; Karen Knuth, Lillie, Curry and Corbin Hoats; Obliquity; Robert Kirby; Three Sets; and the Young Singers of West Georgia.