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South Fulton

voters head to the polls Tuesday with a key race expected to result

in a runoff.

The race

for Fulton County Commission District 7 is the most crowded and most

watched of the local races.

After Michael

Hightower resigned in the face of a bribery indictment, 13 candidates

jumped into the race. With so many candidates in the race, election

watchers are expecting a runoff, which would occur Nov. 28.

At the top

of the ballot, voters will pick the next president and election officials

are expecting a heavy turnout for the battle between Vice President

Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

The contested

state Senate seat affecting South Fulton voters is District 34, where

Democratic incumbent Greg Hecht faces Republican challenger Bryan Hilton.

Voters also

will choose 13 Superior Court judges and six State Court Judges. Judges

in these races are facing no opposition.

The only

other contested race is for Fulton County Board of Education District

7, where incumbent Julia Bernath faces challenger John Gordon.

In addition

to local, state and national candidates, the ballot includes several

constitutional amendments and referendum questions, and with heavy voter

turnout expected Tuesday, election officials are encouraging voters

to prepare ahead of time to reduce the time it takes to vote.

Voters are

urged to mark sample ballots and take them into the voting booth to

speed the process. Fulton County's sample ballot is printed on page

6A in today's Citizen. Explanations of the constitutional amendments

and referendum questions, courtesy of the secretary of state's office,

are on page 5A.

Information

also is available at the secretary of state'sweb page, www.sos.state.ga.us/.

Information

on constitutional amendments and referendum questions also is available

at the secretary of state's information hot line, 888-265-1115.

Polls are

open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.