In just seven days, the political ads on television will come to an abrupt end. In just seven days, campaign signs on the sides of the road will instantly become obsolete. In just seven days, Alabama voters will head to the polls to cast their ballot and put to rest another political year.

And, in the process, voters will help shape the state’s leadership for at least the next four years and quite possibly could shake up the political landscape in Washington, D.C.

With just a week remaining before the Nov. 2 general election, county election officials and local party organizers are getting everything ready for the final push.

“We had a number of residents come in an register to vote Friday — the last day to register and have already entered them into the system,” Dallas County Board of Registrars chairwoman Synethia Pettaway said Monday. “It is not the increase of voters we saw during the presidential election two years ago, but we did see an increase.”

Ahead of Friday’s final push on voter registration, the county had 31,426 registered voters according to Pettaway.

For party leaders, the job now is to get information into the hands of as many potential voters as possible ahead of Tuesday’s vote.

“We are canvassing neighborhoods and encouraging everyone to head to the polls next Tuesday and vote straight Democrat,” county Democratic Party leader Ozetta Thomas said. “We are really working to get out the youth vote to share with them the importance of exercising the right to vote and to prevent this country going back to the 50s and 60s.”

Thomas said local Democratic organizers are stressing the importance of Democratic voters to get to the polls to stave off any Republican — and Tea Party — advances if possible.

For county Republican leader Cecil Williamson, the efforts have been traditional in nature.

“We have been making sure we have the signs on the highways promoting our candidates and have been pleased with the number of the statewide candidates who have made stops in this area,” Williamson said. “We are just going to get everything in order ahead of Tuesday and then see what happens.”

While Thomas says voter turnout could be high, Williamson and others believe the lack of contested local races could lead to low voter turnout Tuesday.

The only county contested race is that of Republican Mark Story and Democrat Ezekiel Pettaway for Dallas County School Board in District 4. The other race of local interest is that of the 7th Congressional District involving Democrat Terri Sewell and Republican nominee Don Chamberlain.

Polls open next Tuesday at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. See Sunday’s edition of The Selma Times-Journal for a sample ballot and polling locations throughout Dallas County.