Months on the campaign trail will come to an end Tuesday asBrookhaven voters will go to the polls to cast their ballots forfour alderman seats and to decide who will steer the city for thenext four years.

Polls will be open Tuesday from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.

City Clerk Mike Jinks said the polls should be packed ifabsentee voting is any indication, as 40 absentee votes came inFriday alone. Saturday was the last day for citizens to vote byabsentee ballot.

City officials believe the open mayor’s race will bring morepeople out to the polls, and Jinks said it’s important for thepublic to know just how pivotal every vote will be.

“It’s the leadership of the community for the next four years,”Jinks said. “I don’t know how to get people to realize just howimportant that is.”

The position of mayor, with sitting Mayor Bob Massengill notrunning again, will fall to the winner of what looks to be a tightrace between Democrat the Rev. Jerry Wilson and Independent LesBumgarner.

The alderman at large position, vacated by Bumgarner when hecast his hat in the ring for mayor, is also open. Republican KarenSullivan and Democrat Ronnie Bass survived the primaries and onewill come out on top Tuesday.

Wards One, Two and Three were all decided in the primary, withincumbent Democrats Dorsey Cameron, Terry Bates and Mary Wilsonreclaiming their positions. But Wards Four, Five and Six are allstill contested.

Ward Four pits incumbent Republican Shirley Estes, who won herprimary over challenger Asem Zeini, against Independent DavidSmith. Estes is seeking her second full term in office.

Ward Five is a matchup of Republican Fletcher Grice againstincumbent Democrat D.W. Maxwell. Maxwell is seeking his secondterm.

Ward Six’s election is a re-run of April 2008’s special electionbetween incumbent Independent David Phillips and Democrat RobertKenny. Phillips won that contest to serve the remainder of BuddyAllen’s term.

Jinks said problems that occurred during the May 5 primaries,where quite a few voters were forced to vote by affidavit ballot,have been corrected.

“The issues that came up before, where people had to voteaffidavit, those people have been added in the correct wards,”Jinks said. “We tried to find the people that weren’t listed andget them in the system.”

Jinks said the city will vote off paper ballots again, which canmake for more time in counting after the polls have closed.

“The ballots will be counted at the polls,” he said, adding thatit could be a day or so before the results are certified. “For theprimaries we didn’t get them certified until two days later, thoughwe normally do it the next day. We do have five days to get itdone, though.”