Look out for your polling card

Polling cards will be arriving through Orkney letterboxes over the next couple of days for all those eligible to vote at the forthcoming local council elections on May 4.

Your poll card details where your polling station is and also how you can make arrangements for a postal vote. Anyone can apply for a postal vote, whatever their reason, so long as they contact the Electoral Registration Office before 5pm on Tuesday, April 18.

Postal vote packs will be sent out from April 13. Voters who have trouble keeping their signatures consistent can apply for a “waiver” whereby they won’t need to sign their postal voting statement and therefore can still cast their vote on the ballot papers contained in the pack.

For the first time in the local council elections, 16 and 17 year olds will also be eligible to vote.

If you don’t receive your polling card, you should check that you are actually on the Electoral Register by contacting the local Electoral Registration Office on 876222. The deadline for registration is 5.00pm on April 17.

Fiona Ratter, the council’s election manager, said: “We hopefully are able to provide a convenient way for anyone to place their vote whether it be postal, proxy (someone who votes on your behalf) or, indeed, by coming along to your nearest polling station. The council aims to provide as much assistance as possible to the people of Orkney to enable everyone to cast their vote.

“If you don’t receive your polling card or have any queries about how to vote, then please contact the Electoral Registration Office.”

• Potential candidates have until March 29 to submit their nomination papers, with the list of candidates published as soon as possible after 4pm on that day.