It's Election Day.
The truth is that most voters have cast their ballots early in the District 4 and District 8 elections. The voters will decide who is going to represent residents throughout central and south Phoenix on the City Council.
But the polls close at 7 p.m. tonight, and that means candidates who've been battling for about a year will have to wait a few more hours for results. City election officials expect to post unofficial results online at about 8 p.m.
The remaining candidates -- Justin Johnson and Laura Pastor in District 4, and Kate Widland Gallego and Pastor Warren Stewart in District 8 -- have been pushing hard to gain community support with a smile while launching strategic attacks on their opponents.
Stewart faces the greatest challenge overcoming a more than 25 point gap between him and Widland Gallego in the August election when she received 3,325 more votes than Stewart.
Can he turn it around?
Such comebacks are not unheard of.
Back in 2007, before the new district lines were drawn, Laura Pastor ran in a District 7 race against now-Councilman Michael Nowakowski. In that year's primary, Pastor received almost 8 percent more votes than Nowakowski.
By the November 2007 runoff election, Nowakowski flipped more voters and bested Pastor by nearly 12 percent of the vote.
This time around, Pastor is locked into a tight race with Johnson with less than 2 percent -- about 166 votes -- for Johnson in the primary.
Politicos, however, say that Stewart has too great a margin to overcome against Widland Gallego.
His supporters, which include leaders in the Latino and Black communities, aren't giving up hope.
"It's a new election," Senator Leah Landrum Taylor said during a recent press conference supporting Stewart. "There were a number of candidates in the last election, and there is going to be some natural crossover for a lot of people."
She said "losing is not an option."
She said the primary election was also low key, and hopes that they can draw out more voters in the run off.
Registered voters interested in casting their ballot can do so in person at a nearby voting center. Find yours by clicking here.
