Well, it's election day for voters in one North Jersey congressional district.

They're choosing a successor to fill the remainder of the late Congressman Donald Payne Jr's term, who died in April.

Four candidates are on the ballot in this special U.S. House election, but Democratic Newark City Council President la Monica, MacGyver and Republican businessman Carmen Bucco are the frontrunners.

And as senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports, today's victory will be short lived.

The same candidates will face off again in November to win the full two year term.

Special elections like the one in Jersey's 10th Congressional District, can sneak up on voters who see an open polling place and wonder what's up?

Did you know there was an election today?

No, I didn't know it was election because it's like.

That's the point.

Some voters feel apathetic.

Some are distracted by political battles at the top of the ballot.

Democrat LaMonica McIver is confident, despite the low voter turnout expected today.

But she's taking nothing for granted.

Folks just don't, you know, understand that there's another election.

I think also too, where super highly focused on November 3rd, you know, we're working hard.

We're going to be phone banking all day.

We've been phone banking for weeks leading up to today to encourage people to get out here and vote today.

MacGyver, who voted at her Springfield Avenue polling place in Newark, is almost certain to win this open congressional seat, split mostly between towns in Essex and Union counties.

Democrats in the House outnumber Republicans 6 to 1.

I've been a Democrat all my life, and you know that's what I do.

I'm a Democrat.

Okay, so you voted for the Democrat.

Yes I did.

Republican challenger Carmen Bucco says she understands the odds are stacked against him.

It's David versus Goliath, right?

But I'm a firm believer that I don't believe failure should be an option.

Bucco says he's been a perpetual candidate.

He spent $15,000 on this campaign.

We can't pull the voters by their ears.

We can only educate them.

We can let them know what's going on.

But it's up to them.

The reality is, is the Republicans don't feel that this is a winnable seat, so nothing is ever put into it.

It's not to say that the challenger can't win.

It's to say that it's a very uphill battle in the district like this.

And if they aren't going to win, you're going to have to see lots of spending.

Riders Michael Rasmussen notes this special election sees a torch passed with candidates vying to complete the term left vacant after District Congressman Donald Payne Jr passed away this summer.

Payne had succeeded his father in the seat.

It's a legacy spanning decades, backed by a powerful political machine.

McIver who's already resigned as Newark's council president, feels the seismic shift.

Definitely it is just a historic moment.

And for the first time, there's going to be change.

You know, in this seat, I'm going to be the first woman to represent this seat.

And I'm just excited about all of the changes happening with the new Jersey delegation.

People that represent us should look like new Jersey.

For ten district voters, it will be a déja vu moment in just a few weeks after they vote today to fill the remainder of Payne's term.

They'll be back again in November to vote same candidates, but for a full term in Congress.

In fact, with the push of a button this November, new Jersey voters could make some sweeping changes across the state's congressional delegation.

There's no question that New Jersey's congressional delegation is getting younger.

It is getting more diverse.

It is getting more female.

It is getting more like the face of new Jersey.

Rasmussen says after veteran Congressman Bill Pascrell s death this summer, Democratic Assemblywoman Nellie Poe looks likely to succeed him in the seventh to Altman's challenged incumbent GOP Congressman Tom Kean If these women succeed, and incumbents Mikie Sherrill and Bonnie Watson Coleman win reelection, new Jersey could potentially send five women to Washington.

Meanwhile, senior Senator Bob Menendez, his resignation in the wake of his bribery and corruption conviction, opened up that seat for either New Jersey's first Asian-American U.S. senator or its first openly gay one.

Meanwhile, election workers are posting on social media urging voters in the tense.

Oh, come on now is, oh, let's go tell us.

Reinstall everyone.

Whoever wins today will serve until January 3rd in Newark.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.