Registering to Vote

Local council elections are taking place across Scotland on Thursday, 3 May 2012.

All British, European Union and qualifying Commonwealth citizens who meet the nationality requirement can vote in this election, assuming that all registration criteria has been met.

To be able to vote in these elections you must also be 18 years of age or over on the day of the election and be registered to vote.

You can vote at your polling station, by postal vote or by a proxy vote where you can appoint someone to submit your vote on your behalf.

If you wish an application form or need further information on how to vote in Angus or Perth & Kinross, please click here.

A detailed election timetable can be viewed here.

Forthcoming Elections

For further information on the election process, please visit the following websites:

The Electoral Commission

Angus Council Elections Page

Perth & Kinross Council Elections Page

Single Transferable Vote (STV)

Since May 2007, Councillors have been elected using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system which allows voters to express a preference for more than one candidate.

The Single Transferable Vote (STV) system is a form of proportional representation which uses preferential voting in multi member wards.

Preferential voting means that instead of casting a single vote for a single candidate, you can rank the candidates on the ballot paper in your order of preference – by putting a “1” in the voting box next to your first choice, “2” in the voting box next to your second choice, “3” in the voting box next to your third choice and so on.

Remember, you can vote for as many or as few candidates as you wish. The candidates you vote for may be from the same party, from several different parties or be independent candidates.

To be elected a candidate must reach a set amount of votes known as the “quota”.

The votes are counted in stages. In the first stage only first preferences are counted. Anyone who reaches the quota is elected. Any votes received over the quota are not needed by the elected candidate and so are transferred to the second preference.

If not enough candidates have then reached the quota, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated and all of their votes are passed to the next preference on the ballot papers. This process is repeated until three or four candidates have been elected.

At this year’s local council elections votes will be counted on Friday, 4 May 2012 using an electronic counting system which will speed up the count process and ensure complete accuracy in the calculation of the results.

For more information about STV please visit About My Vote or the Electoral Reform Society.