File photo by Alec Ross, BlackburnNews.comFile photo by Alec Ross, BlackburnNews.com
London

Election day in London

Londoners will elect a new mayor and city council on Monday.

But it's likely we won't know who wins some of the races until Tuesday. Polls open at 10 a.m. Monday across the city, as London becomes the first city in Canada to elect a municipal government using ranked ballots. Voters have the opportunity to rank their top three choices for mayor and for their ward's council seat. In the event a leading candidate doesn’t get 50 per cent plus one of the vote, the last-place candidate is taken out and their second and third choice votes re-allocated to the remaining candidates.

The counting of votes will begin after the polls close at 8 p.m., but don't expect a complete list of winners until Tuesday. After the polls close, ballot boxes and tabulators will be taken to city hall from the polling locations and counting will begin. City clerk Cathy Saunders says it's likely that some races won't be decided Monday night.

"We are committed to completing round one [of vote counting] so we will keep going until we achieve that," she said.

Inevitably, the outcome of some races won't be decided after the first round of counting, so the winners won't be determined until after counting resumes at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The votes in the race for mayor will be counted last.

The ranked ballot system is only being used for the race for mayor and city council. School board races are still using the first past the post system, in which the winner is the candidate who receives the most votes, regardless of the percentage.

As always, political observers will be watching to see what percentage of eligible voters make it out to the polls to cast their ballot. It is hoped that there will be an increase from the 43 percent voter turnout in the 2014 election. If you are unsure of where you are to vote, click here.

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