'Campaigning until the polls close': London, Ont. mayoral candidates continue door knocking ahead of election

With voters going to the polls Monday, the two frontrunners in London’s mayoral race were still knocking on doors on the final weekend.

Josh Morgan and Khalil Ramal each visited thousands of homes over the weekend.

“Until people stop voting, I'm gonna keep campaigning,” says Josh Morgan, London’s deputy mayor who is running for the top job. “That's always been my style.”

Morgan, with his daughter by his side was working the east end of the city Saturday.

“You do find a lot of people who voted in the advanced polls, which is great for our democracy,” says Morgan, who has been endorsed by current Mayor Ed Holder and many other local politicians.

He adds, “I'm still having great conversations at the door and talking about the platform talking about issues. I’m finding and convincing people to support our campaign and our vision for London.”

London mayoral candidate Khalil Ramal (right) speaks to a potential voter on the final weekend of the election campaign, ahead of the Oct. 24, 2022 election. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

In the northwest, Ramal was knocking on doors, speaking with potential voters and putting up lawn signs.

“I feel the difference though, is people start paying attention to the election, and they tell me [they're] gonna vote for me and I see the difference,” says Ramal, the former London-Fanshawe Liberal MPP.

He adds, “Honestly people started focusing on the platform and listen to what I said in the past. Now they examine what I said, what other people said, and I hope they're gonna kind of go vote for me.”

Fanshawe College Professor of Political Science Matt Farrell says in-person contact is the most effective way of ensuring voters are more likely to come out to the polls on Election Day.

“This last minute nudge can make a big difference in getting those voters out,” says Farrell. “It might not make a huge difference in something like the mayor's race, but in some of these ward races where you've got three, four, even five competitive candidates, if you can get a handful of extra votes in this final weekend, that could be the difference between winning or losing.”

There are 10 candidates for mayor in London, Ont., but experts believe it is realistically only a two-candidate race between Josh Morgan and Khalil Ramal. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

Farrell believes despite having 10 candidates on the ballot for the top job, he thinks it’s definitely a two-person race.

“There's a lot of folks with their names on the ballot, but at the end of the day, you're looking at a handful of votes, maybe a few thousand votes for those candidates,” says Farrell.

Morgan and Ramal say they will continue to engage with voters until the polls close at 8:00 p.m. Monday night.

“If you could knock on doors and somebody was contemplating not voting and you can sway them,” says Morgan. “That's kind of a key for democracy and politics as well. You'd be surprised how often someone says, ‘You're the first person to come to my door and you've convinced me to vote.’”

The other eight candidates running for mayor in London include: Brandon Ellis, Daniel Jeffrey, Dan Lenart, Norman Robert Miles, Carlos Murray, Johanne Nichols, Sean O’Connell and Sandie Thomas.