Framingham voters are about to choose their first mayor, taking the next step in the transformation of the state's largest town into its newest city.

In April, the suburb of nearly 70,000 decided by a narrow margin to change its form of government, from a town manager and board of selectmen to a mayor and city council. Seven candidates ran for mayor in the September preliminary election. Two finalists were selected for the Nov. 7 general election.

Yvonne Spicer is a museum executive and town meeting member who finished first in the preliminary, receiving almost twice as many votes as runner-up John Stefanini. He is a lifelong resident and lawyer who has previously held elected office as a state representative and selectman.

Schools, business growth and better representation have emerged as the major issues in the campaign. Spicer and Stefanini have taken somewhat similar positions on those issues, although they emphasize different things.

Voters want to know what the candidates will do about the four of Framingham’s 14 public schools that are under-performing, based on state ratings.

Stefanini offered this prescription: “We need to make sure were doing early pre-k. Second, we need to look at partnering with our corporations and working with them to bring mentoring and internships and contributions for more universal after-school enrichment programs.”

Spicer said she will work with school leaders to address educational shortcomings at the four schools.

“One of the beauties of the MCAS and a lot of the performance indicators is we can look at where we’re failing. We can look at exact content. We can also look at the structure of the schools,” she said, referring to state-mandated testing by its acronym..

Business development is another major issue. Many voters believe a city form of government will promote commercial growth, by speeding up needed approvals, and ultimately easing the burden on residential taxpayers.

Paul Joseph,  president of the Metro West Chamber of Commerce, said the new mayor and city council have to figure out how to help businesses across the board.

“Framingham has some of the country’s biggest employers here, in that you have Bose, Staples, Poland Springs, Nestle, among some," he said. "Then you have many family-owned first-generation businesses in the downtown area, in different pockets.”

Joseph supported the new city form of government, and hopes it will be a boon for businesses, by “setting the tax rate, understanding what incentives will be debated to put into place, (in order) to retain those large employers.”

Spicer, who once sold real estate, promised her administration would make things easier for businesses in “the process of permitting, the process of signage and a lot of the conversation about how do you start a business.”

Stefanini, whose law firm focuses on real estate, said as mayor he would build up small businesses downtown.

“We’ve been taking their parking spaces away from them in front of their businesses and telling them they have to replace signs they’ve had for decades," he said. "We’re making it very difficult for them in the permitting process.”

Under the new system, communities throughout the city will have representation. The mayor will work with councilors from the nine districts and another two elected at large.

Iilma Paixao, general manager of Framingham’s Brazilian radio station, predicted the councilor system will give immigrant communities a voice in city government.

“You need someone to go to, and not having that makes it very difficult for people to get engaged,” Paixao said.

Most importantly, the mayor will be the one voice who speaks for all residents, the entire city.

“I would be working collaboratively with them in ensuring that everyone in this community feels welcomed, feels safe and also feels that there’s an opportunity for them to live and work and be productive in Framingham,” Spicer said.

Stefanini also promised to govern inclusively. “We need to make sure that our community is servicing all of our residents,” he said.

If Spicer wins, she would become the second African-American popularly elected mayor in Massachusetts. Setti Warren, the outgoing mayor Newton, became the first in 2010.

The town clerk, Valerie Mulvey, said she expects a historic turnout of more than 50 percent. That would be about double the turnout in September. Stefanini is counting on voters who sat out preliminary to overcome the big lead Spicer had in September.

Braintree was last municipality in the Massachusetts to make the transition from town to city, in 2008. Weymouth did so in 1999.