Ontario Municipal Election Day: Polls Close at 8 p.m. as Toronto, Mississauga and Northern Ontario Races Tighten Voters across Ontario head to the polls Monday to elect mayors, councillors and school trustees, with tight races in Toronto and Mississauga and new mayors set to be elected in several northern communities. It is municipal election day across Ontario, and voters are heading to the polls to elect new mayors, city councillors and school trustees in municipalities across the province. Polling stations in most areas are open until 8 p.m. In Toronto, there are 53 candidates running for mayor, but the race is expected to be a two-way contest between Olivia Chow and Brad Bradford. CTV News Northern Ontario will have live results beginning at 8 p.m. in communities across the northeast, including Greater Sudbury, Timmins, North Bay and Sault Ste. Marie, as well as Thunder Bay.Ontario Municipal Election Day UpdatesA new mayor will be elected in North Bay, where incumbent Peter Chirico opted not to run for re-election. Greater Sudbury will elect new councillors in Wards 8, 9, 10 and 12 after the ward incumbents all decided not to run again. Voting hours at 11 polling stations in Toronto have been extended due to disruptions earlier in the day, the City of Toronto says. The city did not specify what the disruptions were.Chartwell Scarlett Heights Retirement Residence at 4005 Eglinton Ave.W. is open until 8:20 p.m. Country Club Towers A at 2460 Weston Rd. is open until 8:20 p.m. Driftwood Public School at 265 Driftwood Ave. is open until 8:08 p.m. The Allenway at 360 Ridelle Ave. is open until 8:10 p.m. Wigwamen Terrace at 14 Spadina Rd. is open until 8:05 p.m. Casa 2 at 42 Charles St. E. is open until 8:08 p.m. St. Joseph's College at 74 Wellesley St. W. is open until 8:08 p.m. Aura at College Park at 388 Yonge St. is open until 8:15 p.m. The Selby at 25 Selby St. is open until 8:17 p.m. Valley Park Middle School at 130 Overlea Blvd. is open until 8:18 p.m. St. Joseph's College at 74 Wellesley St. W. is also listed with an 8:08 p.m. extension.A spokesperson for the City of Mississauga says there have been no issues at polling places. All locations have processed voters throughout the day, the spokesperson said in an email to CP24.Any voter in line at 8 p.m. will be allowed to vote, and the city will stay open to allow for their vote with no official extension beyond 8 p.m. The Mississauga mayoral campaign is a tight three-way race in which public safety is a huge issue, with Carolyn Parrish, Alvin Tedjo and Bonnie Crombie among the candidates. CTV News political commentator Scott Reid says Toronto usually never gets a head-to-head battle for mayor, so this election has been fascinating.Toronto Mayoral Race AnalysisThis is one of those old-fashioned knock-them-down gunfights, Reid said. It is Chow or Bradford, no fooling around. Whichever one of them can motivate their vote better is going to win this race. The most recent Nanos Research poll conducted for CP24 and CTV News shows the race is close.Reid believes the election will come down to who texted more voters and knocked on more doors. Reid says if there is a low voter turnout, the better-organized campaign has the advantage. If it is high voter turnout, well, then it is a jump ball, he said. It is a Yahtzee.It all depends on where the voters want to go. That is really going to come down to in the voters' minds: Are you content with where we are at, or do you want change? If you want change, that is bad news for Chow. If you do not want change, then she will be re-elected.Former Toronto Mayor John Tory sat down with CP24 Breakfast on Monday morning and said today is stressful for anyone running or involved in the election. Compared to provincial and federal campaigns that last maybe 35 days, this one goes on for months, Tory said. You could even argue years. And so it is a blessed relief for everybody, including the campaigners, to be done with it.Chow and Bradford have been active on the campaign trail in recent weeks and the race between them is neck and neck, exclusive Nanos Research polling has suggested. When asked about voter turnout, Tory said Bradford has an advantage for age demographics while Chow has more councillors in her corner.I think what you have got here is a kind of an even thing where Mr. Bradford may have an edge in terms of the demographics of the voter, the age of the voters, and Mayor Chow may have an advantage in the sense she has got more machinery, including some of the union people, to help her get the vote out, Tory said. Chow is at risk of becoming the first incumbent to lose the mayoral job at the ballot box since the city's amalgamation in 1998.It is unusual, Tory said. Especially local politics, they get comfortable with a person and they sort of, unless you have made a terrible mistake, they tend to re-elect you. Carolyn Parrish cast her ballot for Mississauga mayor at Huron Park Recreation Centre on Monday morning alongside a granddaughter. Nipissing University political science professor David Tabachnick said municipal politicians provide services that affect residents' daily lives.Importance of Municipal VotingMunicipal politics is, in fact, incredibly important, if not always the most exciting, Tabachnick said. Snowbanks and potholes do not necessarily make headlines but of course day-to-day that is what matters. While turnout in municipal elections usually runs below 40 per cent, many communities have turned to online voting as a way to encourage people to cast a ballot. While making it easier, Tabachnick said online voting takes away the community aspect to voting.It does take away a little of that civic responsibility, does it not? he said. I mean there is something nice about seeing all of your neighbours in the local gym or community centre lining up to do their civic duty. And we do not have that, of course, for online voting. So, I think we do lose something but perhaps there is more to gain.While they do not have the profile of federal or provincial votes, he said local elections affect residents much more directly. Affordability, taxes, access to services, so there is a lot at stake at the municipal level, even though perhaps it does not get as much attention as the provincial or federal elections do, Tabachnick said. Residents can vote in person or online until 8 p.m. in many areas.CP24's live election special is underway, with reporters live at the headquarters of Toronto mayoral candidate frontrunners Olivia Chow and Brad Bradford, as well as at the election night parties of Mississauga mayoral candidates Carolyn Parrish, Alvin Tedjo and Bonnie Crombie. CTV Northern Ontario will have results as they come in after polls close at 8 p.m.