London mayoral election 2016: Everything else you need to know

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London's mayoral election is finally underway after months and months of intense campaigning. And it started terribly.

Voters in Barnet have been turned away from polling stations due to incomplete polling lists, leading to speculation the vote could come under a legal challenge.

The council has apologised, and is now offering an "emergency proxy vote".

"If you attended a polling station in Barnet this morning, and you were turned away and therefore could not vote, and you are unable to return due to work reasons, then you may be able to use an emergency proxy vote," the council said.

But you may have to run: "You will need to complete an application form and return the form by 5pm today. Find out more about how to vote by emergency proxy."

Liberal Democrats spokesperson in Barnet, Alasdair Hill, said that the Barnet Lib Dems are calling for a full public inquiry as to why the presiding officers at Barnet polling stations do not have the full electoral roll and only the amended list.

"It can only be seen as an affront to democracy. People may not be able to turn up later to vote and the lack of preparedness for today demonstrates contempt to due process and our democratic rights. We call for a full public inquiry into how this could have happened, in particular how the outsourcing of all services by the Conservative run Barnet Council could have impacted on this," he added.

Sophie Walker, the candidate for the Women’s Equality party, who lives in Barnet, has said she's already registered a complaint.

And it's not surprisingly that people aren't too happy:

​https://twitter.com/JakeMaxBaker/status/728138914829983745

One tweet there shows that a councillor of Barnet was turned away. Britain's chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis was also turned away.

Labour MP Mary Creagh said it was a shambles "in Tory run "Easy Jet" Council Barnet".

The problem seems to be that Barnet council decided to outsource its voter lists. 

A spokesperson for Tory Zac Goldsmith said: "There has clearly been a major problem across the whole of the Borough of Barnet that has resulted in properly registered voters being turned away.

As we speak the problem has not yet been rectified although we understand that the local Returning Officer is belatedly reprinting registers and it remains to be seen what the effect of this will be upon the three ballots taking place there.

"We would strongly encourage any voters wrongly turned away to return to their polling stations at any time up to 10pm this evening if at all possible.”

​That might be fairly important, given turnout is expected by some to be as low as 35 per cent. And with the prospect of that legal challenge, well, it's not a good start..

Latest poll

A last minute poll from YouGov shows that Khan is expected to win. He's got 43 per cent of first preference votes, 11 ahead of Goldsmith's 32 per cent. After second preferences are counted Khan takes 57 per cent, against Goldsmith's 43 per cent.

That's actually a fall of three per cent for Khan compared to a poll in April, when he had 60 per cent. And Goldsmith's picked up that three per cent.

Khan is the out-and-out favourite at this point, with bookies and pollsters alike putting him ahead of Goldsmith.

Still, if the history of the last General Election (where pollsters got it completely wrong) has taught us anything, we may be a bit more open minded about how this could all turn out.

Lest we forget the Shy Tory…

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What's at stake and who are the candidates

There's a record 12 candidates standing, but as expected it's come down to a largely one-on-one battle between Conservative Zac Goldsmith and Labour's Sadiq Khan.

If you're not sure how to vote by now, you can take a look at the full list of candidates, here.

This is the big one, but powers still remain pretty limited. The mayor is responsible for the budget and strategy, but that really comes down to some power over transport and planning, as well as the ability to scrutinise the Metropolitan Police.

Here's what the privilege meant to Boris Johnson:

But for equal measure, here's a video from Khan:

If you want to read a last ditch appeal, as well, you can. Here's one from Khan, who says he'll be the most pro-business mayor yet, and here's one from Goldsmith, who says he'll work hand in hand with the government.

And there's also 25 London assembly seats available. These are the ladies and gentlemen who are meant to hold the mayor to account by questioning him (there has only been males in the role so far) and his staff. Though this is tough unless there's a two thirds majority. In fact, you can't really do anything unless half of the assembly backs it.

How does voting work

The London mayoral election uses a supplementary vote. That means Londoners will be given two votes – a first preference and a second preference.

If a candidate gets over 50 per cent of the first choice votes, he or she wins. If not, all candidates but the top two are eliminated, and anyone who voted for them has their second choice redistributed to the top two.

Polling stations are open today from 7am and close at 10pm. After polling stations have closed, there’s no way you can vote. But don't worry: if you're there at, say, 9.30pm and there's a big queue, you'll still be able to vote. That's democracy.

If you've somehow forgotten where to vote, take a look here.

When to expect a result

The first preference result is expected at around 6pm tomorrow, with the final result expected in the early evening. 

Earlier, at around 3pm, we should have the first results of the London Assembly elections.

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