2018 London, Ontario municipal election

2018 London municipal election
	Map of London's wards used in the 2018 election
Mayor before election; Matt Brown; Independent	Elected mayor ; Ed Holder; Independent

The 2018 London municipal election was a municipal election that occurred on October 22, 2018, to elect the Mayor of London, London City Council and the Thames Valley District School Board, London District Catholic School Board, Conseil scolaire catholique Providence and Conseil scolaire Viamonde. The election was held on the same day as elections in every other municipality in Ontario.

As per the Ontario Municipal Elections Act, 1996, nomination papers for candidates for municipal and school board elections could be filed from May 1, 2018, at which time the campaign period began.^[1]

For the first time since Calgary's last use in 1971, a city in Canada used preferential voting to elect members of its city council, the mayor and city councillors.^[2]

The major issues facing candidates in this election included Bus Rapid Transit, safe injection sites, affordable rent and social housing stock as well as city unemployment rates.^[3]

The use of Instant-runoff voting means (theoretically) that to be elected an aldermanic candidate had to have the majority of the ward vote. In the mayor's case the successful candidate needed to have a majority of the city vote. Where no candidate had majority in first preferences, votes transfers were used to assemble a majority behind one of them. London's rule that only two back-up preferences could be marked (and some voters' not even marking the three choices allowed) meant that in a few of the contests many votes had to be set aside as they had been transferred twice and still had not gone to a candidate with a chance to be elected. Although a majority is required to be elected, that could be a majority of votes still in play. Due to the number of votes being deemed invalid or becoming exhausted, in a few cases the majority accumulated by the winning candidate was less than a majority of valid votes or less than a majority of votes cast.

Holder, the winning mayoral candidate, was elected in the end with 44,373 votes when 48,320 was a majority of valid votes that were cast.

In Ward 5, Cassidy won with 3922 votes, 44 percent of votes cast.

In Ward 8, Lehman won with 3058 votes, 39 percent of votes cast.

In Ward 12, Peloza won with 3139 votes, 48 percent of votes cast.

Ward 13, Kayabaga won with 2325 votes, 41 percent of votes cast.

Ward 14, Hillier won with 2522 votes, 48 percent of votes cast.

The amount of support recorded for the winning candidate is more than shown in those vote totals. Unusually, in the vote count for the 2018 London election, transfers of votes between candidates continued even after a candidate had accumulated a majority of votes still in play and had been declared the winner. In the mayoral contest for example, the winner (Holder) was determined in the 13th round so there was no need for a 14th round where Holder apparently is recorded as accumulating 100 percent of the votes.

That the winner in nine out of 15 of the contests held in London in 2018 was elected with a majority of votes cast is noteworthy though. In other municipal elections where first past the post is used, more than half the winners are elected with just a minority of votes cast. (The 2017 Edmonton municipal election is an example where this happened.)

Perhaps in part due to the large number of "exhausted" votes, the leader in the first count won in the end in all the contests in this election. There were no "turn-overs" caused by the front-runner not having the most overall support.

Although ranked ballots were expected to increase the civility of the election, it failed to prevent the creation of two negative websites targeting former city councillor, Virginia Ridley (ward 10), and city councillor, Maureen Cassidy (ward 5).^[4] The controversy has since triggered an OPP investigation into the behaviour of several organizations and candidates in the 2018 municipal election.^[5]

Mayor

The mayoralty was an open seat, as incumbent mayor Matt Brown was not running for re-election.^[6]

London, Ontario mayoral election, 2018^[7]
Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11	Count 12	Count 13	Count 14
Ed Holder	34.2	33,042	33,056	33,073	33,101	33,135	33,183	33,240	33,280	33,325	33,391	33,543	38,690	44,373	57,609
Paul Paolatto	22.2	21,456	21,464	21,471	21,487	21,516	21,541	21,579	21,604	21,637	21,675	21,856	25,943	31,061
Tanya Park	20.3	19,656	19,676	19,690	19,740	19,781	19,801	19,828	19,960	20,071	20,199	20,434	22,415
Paul Cheng	19.8	19,161	19,175	19,190	19,211	19,238	19,254	19,329	19,362	19,396	19,442	19,616
Mohamed Moussa	1.0	919	922	925	933	949	1,023	1,035	1,043	1,063	1,077
Sean M. O'Connell	0.4	370	372	380	389	401	406	416	442	483
David Millie	0.3	337	343	347	358	380	385	391	401
Nina McCutcheon	0.4	340	344	351	361	364	375	384
Vahide Bahramporian	0.4	348	351	351	357	363	368
Ali Hamadi	0.3	304	304	304	306	311
Dan Lenart	0.3	255	258	263	275
Jordan Minter	0.2	212	217	224
Carlos Murray	0.1	127	131
Jonas White	0.1	111
Electorate: 244,962 Valid: 96,638 Spoilt: 1,297 Quota: 48,320 Turnout: 40.0%

Analysis of transferred votes, ranked in order of 1st preference votes
Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round
Ed Holder	14	57,609	100.0%
Paul Paolatto	13	31,061	41.2%
Tanya Park	12	22,415	25.8%
Paul Cheng	11	19,616	20.6%
Mohamed Moussa	10	1,077	1.1%
Sean M. O'Connell	9	483	0.5%
Vahide Bahramporian	6	368	0.4%
Nina McCutcheon	7	384	0.4%
David Millie	8	401	0.4%
Al Hamadi	5	311	0.3%
Dan Lenart	4	275	0.3%
Jordan Minter	3	224	0.2%
Carlos Murray	2	131	0.2%
Jonas White	1	111	0.1%
Eligible votes		96,638	59.6%
Exhausted votes		39,029	40.4%

City Council

Ward 1 results^[8]
Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round
Michael van Holst (X)	1	2,581	50.7%
Melanie O'Brien	1	1,332	26.2%
Bud Polhill	1	1,178	23.1%
Eligible votes		5,091	100.0%

Ward 2 results^[9]
Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round
Shawn Lewis	1	3,481	63.9%
Bill Armstrong (X)	1	1,799	33.1%
Alan Jackson*	1	163	3.0%
Eligible votes		5,443	100.0%

*Withdrew in September 2018^[10]

Ward 3 results^[11]
Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round
Mo Mohamed Salih (X)	1	3,421	72.8%
Harry Prince	1	1,281	27.2%
Eligible votes		4,702	100.0%

Ward 4 results^[12]
Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round
Jesse Helmer (X)	1	2,559	50.5%
Stephen William Orser	1	1,191	23.5%
Tricia Lystar	1	1,003	19.8%
Connor Garrett	1	180	3.6%
Xuemei Jiang	1	130	2.6%
Eligible votes		5,063	100.0%

Ward 5 results^[13]
Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round
Maureen Cassidy (X)	6	4,741	100.0%
Randy Warden	5	3,816	49.3%
Charles Knott	4	1,833	21.6%
Stephanie Marentette Di Battista	3	937	10.7%
Shane Clarke	2	809	9.0%
Shiv Chokhani	1	88	1.0%
Eligible votes		9,002	52.7%
Exhausted votes		4,261	47.3%

Ward 6 results^[14]
Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round
Philip Squire (X)	1	3,959	69.5%
Mike Bloxam	1	1,737	30.5%
Eligible votes		5,696	100.0%

Ward 7 results^[15]
Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round
Josh Morgan (X)	1	6,117	75.2%
Joe Kolenko	1	2,020	24.8%
Eligible votes		8,137	100.0%

Ward 8 results^[16]
Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round
Steve Lehman	9	3,823	100.0%
Matt Reid	8	2,904	48.7%
Bill Downie	7	1,282	19.3%
Tariq Khan	6	1,059	14.6%
Morena Hernandez	5	743	9.9%
Osam Ali	4	464	6.1%
Nour Hamid	3	374	4.8%
Matthew Greer	2	191	2.4%
Moon Inthavong	1	112	1.4%
Eligible votes		7,835	48.7%
Exhausted votes		4,012	51.2%

Ward 9 results^[17]
Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round
Anna Hopkins (X)	3	4,948	54.4%
Matt Millar	3	2,606	28.7%
Kyle Thompson	3	1,536	16.9%
Ben Charlebois	2	922	9.9%
Veronica Marie Warner	1	240	2.5%
Eligible votes		9,418	96.5%
Exhausted votes		328	3.5%

Ward 10 results^[18]
Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round
Paul Van Meerbergen	1	4,402	53.1%
Virginia Ridley (X)	1	3,040	36.7%
Kevin May	1	404	4.9%
Gary Manley	1	298	3.6%
Thomas Risley	1	140	1.7%
Eligible votes		8,284	100.0%

Ward 11 results^[19]
Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round
Stephen Turner (X)	1	4,255	54.1%
Rachel Powell	1	1,803	22.9%
Vicki Van Linden	1	671	8.5%
Paul-Michael Anderson	1	509	6.5%
Menno Meijer	1	419	5.3%
Eric H. Deleeuw	1	209	2.7%
Eligible votes		7,866	100.0%

Ward 12 results^[20]
Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round
Elizabeth Peloza	5	3,403	58.3%
Eric Weniger	5	2,434	41.7%
Gord Evans	4	1,061	17.2%
Rowa Mohamed	3	730	11.4%
Faisal Mahmood	2	219	3.4%
Jesse Haidar	1	132	2.0%
Eligible votes		6,546	89.2%
Exhausted votes		709	10.8%

Ward 13 results^[21]
Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round
Arielle Kayabaga	8	2,804	100.0%
John Fyfe-Millar	7	2,186	48.5%
Jonathan Hughes	6	1,100	21.6%
Kevin Wilbee	5	831	15.3%
Ben Benedict	4	391	7.5%
Gil Warren	3	358	6.3%
David Lundquist	2	240	4.2%
Rod Morley	1	57	1.0%
Eligible votes		5,714	49.1%
Exhausted votes		2,910	50.9%

Ward 14 results^[22]
Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round
Steven Hillier	4	3,370	100.0%
Jared Zaifman (X)	3	2,128	45.8%
Allan Tipping	2	787	15.8%
Annette Swalwell	1	647	12.4%
Eligible votes		5,229	64.4%
Exhausted votes		1,859	35.6%

School Board Trustee

TVDSB Wards 7, 8, 9, 10, 13

Elected: Jake Skinner, Joyce Bennett

TVDSB Wards 1, 11, 12, 14

Elected: Lori-Ann Pizzolato, Sherry Polhill

TVDSB Wards 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Elected: Peter Cuddy, Corrine Rahman

LDCSB Wards 5, 6, 7

Elected: Gabe Pizzuti

LDCSB Wards 11, 12, 13

Elected: John Jevnikar

LDCSB Wards 1, 14

Elected: Pedro Almeida

LDCSB Wards 2, 3, 4

Elected: Sandra Cruz

LDCSB Wards 8, 9, 10

Elected: Linda Steel^[23]

References

^ "Municipal Election Resources - 2018 Regular Election". Ministry of Municipal Affairs. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
^ Stacey, Megan (October 24, 2018). "London city clerk praised for smooth shift to ranked ballots". The London Free Press.
^ "Municipal Election Issues". Archived from the original on August 25, 2018. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
^ Dubinski, Kate (October 22, 2018). "How did London's municipal election campaign turn so nasty?". CBC. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
^ Stacey, Megan (January 15, 2020). "Everything we know about Blackridge, attack websites and London's 2018 election fallout". The London Free Press. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
^ "London Mayor Matt Brown won't seek a second term". CBC London, April 6, 2018.
^ "Mayor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 24, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
^ "Ward 1 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
^ "Ward 2 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
^ Stacey, Megan (September 5, 2018). "London city hall: Ward 2 candidate drops out, endorses competitor". The London Free Press.
^ "Ward 3 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
^ "Ward 4 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
^ "Ward 5 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
^ "Ward 6 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
^ "Ward 7 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
^ "Ward 8 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
^ "Ward 9 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
^ "Ward 10 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
^ "Ward 11 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
^ "Ward 12 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
^ "Ward 13 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
^ "Ward 14 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
^ "2018 Official Municipal Election Results". www.london.ca. Archived from the original on March 21, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2020.

Preceded by 2014 election	List of London, Ontario municipal elections	Succeeded by 2022 election

[mma-1] "Municipal Election Resources - 2018 Regular Election". Ministry of Municipal Affairs. Retrieved July 15, 2017.

[2] Stacey, Megan (October 24, 2018). "London city clerk praised for smooth shift to ranked ballots". The London Free Press.

[3] "Municipal Election Issues". Archived from the original on August 25, 2018. Retrieved August 24, 2018.

[4] Dubinski, Kate (October 22, 2018). "How did London's municipal election campaign turn so nasty?". CBC. Retrieved January 19, 2020.

[5] Stacey, Megan (January 15, 2020). "Everything we know about Blackridge, attack websites and London's 2018 election fallout". The London Free Press. Retrieved January 19, 2020.

[6] "London Mayor Matt Brown won't seek a second term". CBC London, April 6, 2018.

[7] "Mayor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 24, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.

[8] "Ward 1 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.

[9] "Ward 2 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.

[10] Stacey, Megan (September 5, 2018). "London city hall: Ward 2 candidate drops out, endorses competitor". The London Free Press.

[11] "Ward 3 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.

[12] "Ward 4 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.

[13] "Ward 5 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.

[14] "Ward 6 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.

[15] "Ward 7 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.

[16] "Ward 8 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.

[17] "Ward 9 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.

[18] "Ward 10 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.

[19] "Ward 11 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.

[20] "Ward 12 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.

[21] "Ward 13 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.

[22] "Ward 14 Councillor". london.ca. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.

[23] "2018 Official Municipal Election Results". www.london.ca. Archived from the original on March 21, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2020.

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