CUMMING — Time is running out for those interested in voting in the upcoming Cumming City Council election Nov. 3

The deadline to register to vote is 4:30 p.m. Monday. Potential voters can sign up online, by mail or in person at the office of voter registration and election on the second floor of the Forsyth County Administration Building.

“They can fill out the form and mail it to us, or bring it in to us … or they can go ahead and submit it online. [With mail], it has to be post marked by [Oct. 5] by the U.S. Post Office,” said Barbara Luth, Forsyth’s supervisor of voter registrations and elections.

Those wanting to register online can do so through the Secretary of State’s website at www.sos.ga.gov.

“We’ll actually start mailing out [absentee] ballots, and advance voting at the city will start on [Oct.] 12,” she said. “All the advance voting and Election Day will be held at Cumming City Hall. Advance voting is going to be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the lower level of City Hall.”

There are no county elections this fall, and only those living within the city limits can vote in the council races, though balloting is citywide.

Cumming currently has about 2,600 registered voters.

Eight candidates have registered for the election, with two new members guaranteed after longtime incumbents Ralph Perry of Post 4 and John D. Pugh of Post 5 announced in August they would not seek re-election.

Perry was first elected to the council in 1979 and Pugh in 1993. Both men cited health as a factor in their decisions.

Post 3 incumbent Lewis Ledbetter will be on the ballot, but will not face a challenger for the seat he has held since 1971.

For Post 4, the five-person race features attorney Christopher Light, former small business owner Dana Sexton, former Forsyth County commissioner Marcus “Jack” Shoemake, small business owner Avery Stone and Guy McBrayer, who works in auto sales.

Sexton is the wife of Rupert Sexton, who held the Post 1 seat from 1971 until retiring this spring.

The Post 5 race will be a rematch of sorts between Linda Ledbetter, a former Forsyth County commissioner, retired educator and first cousin of Lewis Ledbetter, and real estate agent and small business owner Julie Tressler.

The two were part of a four-candidate field to fill the unexpired term of Rupert Sexton, which was won by local banker Chuck Welch.

For both races, the top vote-getter will win, and no runoff is necessary if he or she fails to get 50 percent of the vote plus one vote.