There is no question one of the biggest factors motivating Londoners to get out and vote Monday was the city's controversial bus rapid transit plan.
Of the people exiting polling stations that spoke with Blackburn News, most cited the $500 million project as the biggest issue surrounding this election.
"The whole bus rapid transit system has me conflicted. It's not a black or white situation in my mind," said John Cory. "I voted toward the candidates who would decline the BRT because I feel that it doesn't serve enough of the population of London."
Jess Hodgeson agreed BRT was at the forefront when deciding who to vote for.
"BRT has moved people one way or the other. It's a pretty polarizing subject," said Hodgeson. "At the end of the day we all know we need a new transit system, that's clear. The current transit system we have in place isn't working, but how to best tackle that I'm not sure. That will be up to the next council."
For Margot Stothers, there were a couple of issues to consider this election.
"I think the rapid transit plan was pretty important, but in my ward discussions around homelessness, poverty and the relationship to crime are also a big deal," said Stothers. "All of the candidates seems to put some really good thought into it, but there were really clear differences in their approach and their solutions. That helped."
London's poverty rate and opioid crisis were also among the top issues for Samata Krishnapillai.
"Leading up to voting day, I was really excited to hear from candidates who had something to say about homelessness, the poverty rate, and the opioid epidemic who had real evidence-based solutions to those," said Krishnapillai. "You get a lot of rhetoric sometimes but there were a couple candidates who stood out to me and it was exciting to vote for them today."
Monday's municipal election in London marked the first time a Canadian city chose to use the ranked ballot system. Ranked ballots ask voters to rank candidates in order of preference on their ballot with the winning candidate needing more than 50% of the votes in order to be elected.
For the most part, Londoners existing the polls felt they had a good handle on the new voting system.
"It's pretty straightforward," said Stothers. "There are problems with our electoral system in general so any change is good. I think this is a really positive step."
"If we are going to make a change in voting I think this is the way to go and it is better to try it out at the municipal level to gauge success before moving on to provincial and federal, " said Hodgeson. "I think it's a huge step. So if we build the base at the municipal level and track the success, then we could look at implementing it at higher levels as well."
However, there were some people who still opted to only mark off their preferred candidate with no second and third choice.
"I voted for the person who I thought was best for that position. Period. I don't agree with ranked balloting. I liked first-past-the-post," said Ted Mitchell, who also noted he found it hard to find enough information about those who were running.
"I spent half an hour screwing around with the internet trying to get information about the candidates and all I could get was information on their opinions on heritage. There was nothing about the school board trustees."
The polls in London closed at 8 p.m. The completed results aren't expected to be released until sometime Tuesday.