Unalaska, AK – Voting is underway this evening in Unalaska, as voters choose between nine candidates for three city offices.

As of 5 p.m. this evening, 493 voters had cast their ballots at City Hall, and 42 more had voted by absentee ballot. So far that's about a hundred less than the record turnout for last year's city council race, in which 640 people cast their ballots. But City Clerk Debra Mack was optimistic that more votes would be coming in this evening.

"People get off work, they're driving to the store and they see the signs," she said. "So there's usually a rush for an hour or so."

The weather cooperated with the candidates' supporters who were out at intersections along Airport Beach Road holding signs throughout the day. Some of the candidates themselves spent time pounding the pavement. One of them was mayoral candidate Katherine McGlashan, who held off on making any predictions of the outcome of the election this afternoon.

"It's going to be close, but I'm going to be optimistic and hope for the best," she said.

McGlashan was anticipating putting in about seven hours getting out the vote. City Council candidate Randall Baker, who was plugging his own campaign on the other side of the street, was also spending most of the day there.

"I had several meetings to do today, but off and on, [I've been out] probably six or seven hours," he said.

The large number of absentee ballots means that if any of the races are close there may not be a clear winner right away. Those ballots will be counted on Friday, and the election results will be certified at Tuesday's city council meeting. If nobody clears 40 percent of the vote in any of the races, those seats will be subject to a runoff election later this month.

The polls are open until 8 p.m. tonight. We'll be announcing the results live on KIAL, Channel 8 and kial.org as soon as we have them, between 8:15 and 8:30 this evening, so be sure to tune in.