City residents in Ferguson, Missouri, will head to the polls on Tuesday for the first election since 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed in a police shooting that sparked a string of local protests and national outrage.

The April 7 municipal elections will give voters in the small St. Louis suburb the opportunity to elect four new members of the City Council, who will hopefully work to mend broken relations between the Ferguson Police Department and the community.

The election comes eight months after Brown, an unarmed African-American teen, was shot by a white cop in August 2014. Although former Officer Darren Wilson was not charged in the shooting, the Justice Department released a scathing report that revealed the Ferguson Police Department was guilty of systemic racism against African Americans. The report also revealed that the city's former top court clerk and two high level police officers exchanged several racist and religiously insensitive emails between 2008 and 2011.

For years, an overwhelming majority of white politicians have represented the city despite the fact that two-thirds of Ferguson's 21,000 residents are black. As of now, the mayor and all of the council members are white, expect for one black councilman who is not up for re-election.

This election, however, will give voters the opportunity to put as many as three African Americans on the City Council for the first time in the city's history.

Both candidates running for election in the 3rd Ward are black. In addition, two black and two white candidates are running in the 1st Ward, while both men running in the 2nd Ward are white.

"This election is about winning justice for residents of Ferguson," said Dan Cantor, national director of Working Families Party, according to The Seattle Times. "But it's also about showing communities across America that by getting organized, people can win change and ensure that black lives matter in our democracy and in our justice system."

In the last election, only 12.3 percent of Ferguson's registered voters went to the polls in April 2014, said Eric Fey, director of elections for St. Louis County. He added that just 562 voters have been added since last August in spite of the effort to register new voters and increase turnout among black voters.

"You cannot have sustainable change without political access," said Wesley Bell, a Black candidate running in to represent Ward 3, reports USA Today. "For far too long, African Americans didn't get involved enough in the process and as a result we get ignored."

However, according to white candidate Mike McGrath, rather than race, voters should focus on the candidate with the best campaign to improve city schools and streets.

"I tell residents I understand you'd like to have more black faces up there and I don't disagree with that," said McGrath, who is running in the Ward 1 race. "Unfortunately, I think for this election, experience and qualifications matter more than race or gender."

This election is also important because the new council will oversee the hiring of a new city manager, police chief and municipal judge in addition to determine the future direction of the Police Department.

"This is an opportunity for residents and city hall to actually come together on a decision for the future of our city. A lot of people always believed they had no say-so and this election, people are going to be reminded: 'Hey. You do have a say-so,'" said Tony Rice, who participated in several protests following the death of Michael Brown.