78 candidates sign up for London mayor, council races

Nominations are closed, as of 2 p.m. Friday,for London mayor, council and school board races ahead of the Oct. 22 election.

A total of 64 candidates are running for London's mayor and council races.

A total of 14 candidates are running to succeed Matt Brown as London's mayor.

A complete list of candidates is posted here on the city's election website.

Some of the notable names in the race include:

• PaulCheng-Old North resident who ran and lost to Matt Brown in 2014.
• Ed Holder -Former London West Tory MP.
• PaulPaolatto-Businessman new to politics.
• Tanya Park -Ward 13 councillor

Incumbents are seeking re-election in all but three of London's 14 council races. Tanya Park (Ward 13) is taking a run at mayor, while Harold Usher (Ward 12) and Paul Hubert (Ward 8) are not seeking re-election.

Are you able to run?

To be eligible to run, candidates need to be at least 18 years old, Canadian citizens and either own or lease property in Londonrenting an apartment is fine or be the spouse of someone who owns or leases property in London.

The supporting signatures must alsocome from voters withthose qualifications, said city clerk Cathy Saunders.

"Sometimes we'll get signatures from people that live outside of London, and then they would have to go out and get another signature of someone who is eligible to vote in London," said Saunders.

For voters: Watchfor ranked ballots

Saunders said the ranked ballots shouldn't come as much of a surprise, asthe city has hosted upwards of 80 public education events to train voters on how to use them.

Still, no amount of preparation compares to the real thing.

"The ranked ballot certainly adds a little bit of a twist for us, but I'm confident we'll be ready for it and to be honest the election period is always fun for staff," said Saunders. "It's an exciting time for us and we welcome the challenge."

In the new system, Londoners can pick up tothree choices in order of preference. It is not required to list three choices.

"You don't have to pick three, but you can pick up to three," said Saunders.

A candidate must reach a threshold of 50 per cent plus one of the votes that are cast in the election to win.However,if one candidate doesn't have 50 per cent plus one of the votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. The ballots are then counted using the next candidate choice.

The process is repeated until a candidate with 50 per cent plus one is chosen.

Ranked ballots to shake up mayoral race: Western prof

Given the current slate of mayoral candidates, the ranked ballot system could make things "interesting," according to Zack Taylor, an assistant professor of political science at Western University.

Notably, all mayoral candidates except Coun. Park lean right politically, Taylor said.

"That's where things get interesting," said Taylor. "Because it's likely that very few of those conservative candidates are going to be the second choice of Tanya Park's voters, and yet she is very unlikely to be the second choice of any of the conservative voters."

Taylor added that the presence of three relatively right-of-centre candidates could also create competition for campaign resources and funding.

"They're going to be chasing the same votes and the same donors," Taylor said.

A full list of candidates for mayor, councillor and school board trustee at the city of London's website.