The elections for London mayor and the London assembly both use voting systems still relatively unfamiliar in Britain. Read this guide and then post any questions you have below, and we'll try to answer them all by the end of the working day.
The London voting systems are intended to more closely reflect voters' views than the traditional first-past-the-post system that is used to elect MPs to the House of Commons.
Voters will get three ballot papers. A yellow one and a peach one for the London assembly, and a pink one for London mayor.
London mayor
For this contest, you get a pink ballot paper and can cast two votes: one vote in the first column for your first choice, the second vote in the second column for your second choice. Vote with a cross not a number.
If a candidate receives more than half of the first-choice votes, he or she is elected.
If not, the two candidates with the most first-choice votes go to a run-off, and all the other candidates are eliminated.
All the ballots with eliminated candidates as first choice are examined again, and any second-preference votes for the top two candidates are added to their totals.
The candidate with the most first- and second-choice votes wins.
Here's a really clear video explaining the system.
Tactical tip
If you are in favour of a minority party - which in this election means everyone from the Liberal Democrats to the Left List - put their candidate as your first preference rather than your second. This is the only way they stand a chance of making it into the second, run-off round. If you give them a second-preference vote, this will only count if they get enough first-preference votes from other people to get into the second round.
Tactical tip 2
If you are voting for Ken Livingstone or Boris Johnson as your first preference, your second preference will probably not count. Second preferences are only redistributed when a ballot paper has as its first preference someone who was eliminated in the first round - and neither Livingstone nor Johnson are likely to be eliminated in the first round.
Tactical tip 3
Because the second round is likely to be between Ken and Boris, if you have voted for any other candidate as your first choice, it would be a good idea to choose between Labour and the Conservatives for your second - as then you will still get some say in who will run London even if your favourite is eliminated.
London assembly
As well as voting for the mayor of London, you can also elect the 25 members of the London assembly, which acts as a check on the mayor.
The assembly is made up of 14 constituency members - who represent different areas of the capital - and 11 London-wide members, who represent the city as a whole.
Your yellow ballot paper allows you to vote for a constituency member (your constituency is usually made up of your borough and a couple of neighbouring boroughs). This is exactly the same as voting for an MP in a general election: you vote for one candidate with a cross, and the candidate with the most votes in that constituency wins that seat.
Your peach-coloured ballot paper is for the London-wide members. It lists all parties (or independent candidates) standing in London. You vote for one party (or independent candidate) with a cross.
Then all the peach-coloured London-wide votes are added together, and any party or independent candidate receiving less than 5% of the vote is eliminated. The 11 London-wide assembly seats are then allocated in proportion to their share of the vote. So if Labour received 9% of the vote they would get one London-wide seat on the assembly.
The 11 London-wide seats and the 14 constituency seats make up the whole assembly.
Tactical tip
A vote for a very small party may well help them get over the 5% threshold, but it might also be wasted if they do not manage that and are eliminated.
If you have any queries about the process or the elections as a whole please post them below and we'll try to answer each one. Any other tactical tips you have for other readers are welcome.
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