North Ayrshire Council elections: How to vote next week

North Ayrshire’s Returning Officer, Craig Hatton, this week issued a reminder that the voting system is different for the local elections to be held on Thursday, May 5.

The Single Transferable Vote system (STV) will be used to elect 33 councillors across North Ayrshire’s nine electoral wards.

This system, which has been in place for council elections since 2007, is a form of preferential voting system where voters list their choices in numerical order.

Voters can vote for as many, or as few, candidates as they wish. For example, marking a 1 next to their first choice, a 2 next to their second choice, and a 3 next to their third choice and so on.

The Returning Officer said: “If you have voted in a local council election before, then you will probably be familiar with the STV voting system.

“It is used to rank candidates in order, and you can choose as few or as many candidates as you wish. For some, this will be the first time using the system so it’s important to remember to use numbers – not an X – or your vote may not be counted.”

Some voters may wish to vote for all candidates in order while others may opt to list only one or two candidates in order of preference.

Polling places will open at 7am and close at 10pm on Thursday, May 5, with the electronic count taking place the following day at the Portal, Irvine.

Voters who are using a postal vote are asked to return their vote as soon as possible to help avoid a last-minute rush.

Another reminder to voters that some of the boundaries have changed since the previous local government election in 2017.

The new wards and number of councillors to be elected to represent them are:

1. North Coast 5
2. Garnock Valley 5
3. Ardrossan 3
4. Arran 1
5. Saltcoats and Stevenston  5
6. Kilwinning 4
7. Irvine West 4
8. Irvine East 3
9. Irvine South 3

TOTAL: 33

For further information about the election, visit the council website at north-ayrshire.gov.uk/elections.