The deadline has passed for candidates to submit their names for October's municipal election.

Registration closed at 2 p.m. on Friday.

There were concerns over the last few weeks about the lack of candidates, but as the due date neared, there was a last minute rush to register.

Julie Scott, the director of legislative services for the City of Waterloo, said eight people filed their papers just ahead of the 2 p.m. deadline.

"It's not uncommon," she explained. "We typically do see quite a few on the last day. I would say it's a little bit higher than our normal for the City of Waterloo."

Four candidates are now in the running to replace the outgoing mayor Dave Jaworsky. Three of them joined in the just the last week. They are Shannon Weber, Dorothy McCabe, Kypp Saunders and Rob Evans.

"We'll see a mix of new and familiar faces," said Scott.

The next step in the process is certification.

In Kitchener, there are five candidates vying for the mayoral seat: Rehman-Ullah Khan, Manikantan Nair, Val Neekman, Milos Sokollu Posavljak, as well as the incumbent Berry Vrbanovic.

In Cambridge, it's a four-way race for mayor. The candidates are Jan Liggett, Randy Carter, Cody Botelho and incumbent Kathryn McGarry.

In Guelph, there are six candidates for mayor: incumbent Cam Guthrie, Shelagh McFarlane, William Albabish, John Edward Krusky, Nicholas A. Ross, and Danny Drew.

"Incumbents tend to get re-elected," said Tim Mau, a political science professor at the University of Guelph. "It's very difficult to reseat them."

He's relieved to see more candidates running for office.

"It definitely opens up opportunities for new faces to get elected and [have] their voices heard around the horseshoe," Mau explained. "It's quite exciting."

The official candidate lists will be made public by 4 p.m. Monday.

The municipal election will take place on Oct. 24.