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It is, however, something other than first past the post. This is what makes London’s vote, in particular, such a landmark. Opponents of electoral reform have until now had unchallenged possession of the status quo in Canada: any other system could be presented as some ghastly foreign invention, unsuited to Canadian circumstances. Lacking personal familiarity with the alternatives, voters have too easily been misled with wild caricatures bearing no resemblance to how these systems actually work.

As of Monday, however, we will have a working model of reform on Canadian soil. As with anything being done for the first time, it may well arrive accompanied by the odd hitch. Possibly because the decision was taken by council, rather than by referendum, popular awareness of the new system is reportedly low. Some voters will think they are obliged to rank every candidate on the ballot, or their vote will not count (in fact they can rank a maximum of three choices, fewer if they like); others, that they can vote for the same candidate three times, and so on.

But it’s at least as significant what else will happen on election day — indeed, what already has. The mayoral campaign, in particular, has been notably lacking in the usual name-calling and recriminations, even in the campaign’s last days: why risk alienating other candidates’ supporters, who might otherwise mark you second or third, especially in a close race?

Lacking personal familiarity with the alternatives, voters have too easily been misled with wild caricatures

And it is close: a recent poll has three of the 14 candidates for mayor in a virtual tie for the lead in voters’ first-choices, each in the mid-20s, with a fourth a few points behind. In elections as we have known them until now, there would be enormous pressure on one or more of the candidates to drop out, rather than “split the vote”; voters, likewise, would be told not to “waste” their ballot, but to vote “strategically,” that is to defeat the candidate they most dislike rather than to support the candidate they most prefer.