Several local seats across Georgia will be decided Tuesday in runoffs that will take place after candidates for county and city offices failed to win the 50% of votes required to win the Nov. 5 general election outright.

A number of voting rights organizations are stressing the importance of Georgia residents making their way to the polls on Tuesday for races that’ll decide who takes office in January.

In total, 18 races are Tuesday’s ballots across the state, including multiple positions around metro Atlanta.

Polling places are open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters can find their designated precinct by visiting the state’s My Voter Page or by contacting their county board of registrar’s office.

Miatta Harris, a student organizer for Equity for All, said it’s important to vote in local elections that shape aspects of the public’s lives more directly than national office holders can. The Spelman College student said local officials make decisions about police reform, affordable housing, environmental policies and education funding that directly affect communities and residents.

“When people say my vote doesn’t matter, they’re falling for the biggest political trick in history,” Harris said. “The truth is local elections are often decided by just a few hundred votes. Your voice, multiplied by the young people in your community, can literally change who sits in city hall and what policies get passed.”

State Rep. candidates disputes electron results

The Nov. 5 general election also featured  presidential, Congressional and state legislative contests as a record 5.3 million Geogians cast ballots.

The winner of one state legislative seat remains unsettled after a candidate filed a petition requesting a new election be conducted. Sparta Republican Tracy Wheeler is challenging her loss in House District 128 that for now was determined by 48 votes in her loss to Democratic challenger Mark Jackson.

Wheelter filed a lawsuit last week that argues that her election should be overturned because ineligible voters were able to cast ballots while some eligible voters were blocked. The legislative seat represents portions of Baldwin and McDuffie counties and the entirety of Hancock, Warren, Glascock and Washington counties.

“Because the irregularities wrongly rejected votes, and illegal votes in the election exceed the margin of victory of 48, the election must be invalidated, and a new election held,” Wheeler’s attorney Jake Evans wrote in the lawsuit filed in Washington County Superior Court.

Georgia Republicans will have a 100-80 majority in the House after flipping two seats during last month’s election if current results stand. Democrats were unable to flip any seats in the state Senate, leaving the GOP’s 33-23 edge there intact.

Democrats were also unable to flip a string of House seats in the northern Atlanta suburbs that were seen as the most competitive this year, and some incumbents found themselves fighting for another term after last year’s court-ordered redistricting do-over left them in a precarious spot.