CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG-TV9) -- Polls open in a few hours for today's special election happening in all across Eastern Iowa.
In the Cedar Rapids, Mayoral Race voters will decide between Brad Hart, an attorney with Bradley & Riley, or former city council member Monica Vernon.
In City Council District 5, incumbent Justin Shields is facing challenger Ashley Vanorny.
The Linn County Auditor's Office says so far they've had a good turnout.
They've already had 3,000 people come out for early voting.
Four years ago in the runoff election, they only had about 1,000 people cast an early ballot.
Tuesday's runoff includes the Mayoral race and of those early voters, 23% did not vote in the November general elections but are making their votes count in the runoff.
Auditor Joel Miller says it's important to vote if people want a say in choosing their city's next leader.
"The Mayor is the face of the city, certainly makes sense that people are excited about that and they're going to have to look and deal with that person for the next four years and it's an opportunity to you know to send a different message, set the city on a different course," says Miller.
Voters who came out to vote early say they thought it was important to come down and help choose the next mayor of Cedar Rapids.
"I think it has a lot to do with with the direction the city takes and we've made a lot of progress in the last eight years and we want to see that continue," says Lisa Goodwin.
"I think it has a lot to do with with the direction the city takes and we've made a lot of progress in the last eight years and we want to see that continue," says Rick Morris.
If you would like to know where your voting location is you can click on this link: https://www.linncounty.org/681/Polling-Locations