Six people, two of them former councillors, will be on ballots when Merritt residents go to the polls today for a byelection.

The city's newest councillor will replace Norm Brigden, who resigned in May after accepting a job offer at a Nanaimo forest company.

Merritt residents will choose between Kurt Christopherson, Nadia Clarke, Noreen Cross, Harvey Keys, Jack Polmans and Bob Baird.

Baird is a former multi-term mayor with more than two decades of municipal experience in the Nicola Valley. He was originally elected mayor in a byelection in 1979.

Following a loss of his mayor's seat in 2002, Baird was voted in during a subsequent byelection the next year to replace another councillor who resigned his position.

Nadia Clarke, a First Nations woman, is also a former Merritt councillor.

Several hundred people voted in an advance poll for the byelection.

Polls run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Merritt's City Hall building.