The election season in Westbrook begins in earnest this weekend.

The Westbrook Republican City Committee has scheduled its caucus for 9 a.m. on Saturday, at the Public Safety Building, to select candidates for the Nov. 5 election.

The Westbrook Democratic Committee has not scheduled its caucus yet, said Lynda Adams, city clerk.

All seven City Council seats will be up for election in November. Three-year terms will be given to one at-large council seat, either the one held by Michael Foley or John O’Hara, the council’s only Republican. The other at-large seat will have a two-year term. Adams said who is running for the longer-term seat has not been decided yet. Since there are two at-large seats available with different term lengths, candidates will have to specify which term they are running for when their party caucus nominates them.

Wards 1, 2 and 5 City Council seats, now held by Brendan Rielly, Victor Chau and Mike Sanphy, respectively, are three-year terms. Wards 3 and 4, held by Paul Emery and Dotty Aube, are two-year terms.

On the School Committee, Wards 3 and 4, held by Mary Hall, Democrat, and Ed Symbol, Republican, and one at-large seat, held by Suzanne Joyce, Democrat, are three-year terms.

Changes to the city charter were passed by voters last November that affected how long councilors hold their seat in the next term in order to stagger the elections to prevent a full City Council or School Committee turnover. City councilors used to run for two-year terms, while School Committee members ran for four-year terms. Starting in 2015, all seats will be three-year terms.

Mayor Colleen Hilton said she plans to run again, if the Democratic caucus nominates her. If she does, she could likely face local restaurateur James Tranchemontagne, an independent, who took out nomination papers for the post last month. Candidates for the three-year term as mayor can be nominated by party caucus or by petition. According to the city charter, petitions must be signed by at least 15 registered voters in each of the five wards in the city.

So far, no one else has taken out papers yet to be included on the November ballot.

Adams said one noticeable change for this year’s election will be the new voting machines given to the city by the state. Adams said the state gave Westbrook six automated machines with touch screens. She also leased one machine for $795 a year to be used as backup.

Adams said she will set up one of the machines in her office a few weeks before the election so people can stop by and try out the new machines before Nov. 5.

The seven old voting machines were purchased by the city in 2000 for $35,000.

-By Suzanne Hodgson