Months of speeches, yard signs and handshakes come to an end tonight as municipal government candidates await the results of the local election.

It's been more than five months since the primaries ended, and even though Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira has run the political gauntlet in the past, the stakes are always the same, he said.

"You have made your presentation to the voters, and you ask them to look past the campaign rhetoric," he said. "There is still a lot of pressure that comes every four years."

Madeira, the Republican incumbent, said he will be campaigning at various polling places in the county until the polls close at 8 p.m.

"In the last couple of days, I think there's been a lot of shifting," he said. "People are realizing that I have taken a very, very positive approach to this campaign."

His Democratic challenger Stacy Parks Miller has a similar strategy for today. Parks Miller said she plans to spend most of the day "working the polls" in Harris Township.

"There is a double poll there -- two precincts vote at one place," she said. "It'll have a high number of people."

On the mayoral side of the election, Democratic candidate Elizabeth Goreham is preparing for an early start.

"My husband and I are getting up at 5," she said. "We're putting up signs at every precinct in State College."

After a morning of running around the borough, Goreham said she plans to stop at the HUB-Robeson Center at 11 a.m. and spend the last of her campaign hours talking with students.

"I hope a lot of students turn out to vote," she said. "I hope they vote for me, but turning out is the first step."

Like Goreham, Republican mayoral candidate Joe Wakeley said he will use today to strategically place signs throughout the borough and talk to voters.

"My wife made these handcrafted yard signs," he said. "You do what you can afford right now."

Centre County Board of Elections Chairman Jon Eich said he expects this election to receive a significant amount of attention from residents.

"Typically, presidential elections attract the most residents," he said, "This is an important election. Those on the ballot typically have the most impact on the lives of residents."

Residents aren't the only ones Eich expects to turn up at the polls. He said students also have more incentives to vote.

"We have a hotly contested DA race on the ballot," he said. "Certainly there's more reason for them to be interested than in the past."

As the results come in, the two Democratic candidates said they have plans to go out to restaurants with fellow campaign workers.

"I'm going to be at Rotelli's to hear the returns," Goreham said. "Then I'll probably go to bed and get some rest. It's been intense."

Parks Miller said she plans to go to Prospectors Allegheny Rib Co., 2080 Cato Ave., after 9 p.m. to celebrate with everyone she has worked with.

Regardless of what celebrations candidates might be planning, losing the election is never out of the picture.

Madeira predicted tomorrow's results might startle some voters.

"I think there are going to be some people who are going to be very surprised because they thought it was going to turn out very differently," he said.