Polls are open for European referendum

The polling stations are open for today’s European referendum.

In Orkney, 19 polling stations opened at 7am today, Thursday, and will close at 10pm.

Any voter who arrives to vote before 10pm, and who is still waiting to vote at 10pm, will be able to vote.

In Orkney, there are 16,662,eligible voters, including 4,401 postal votes.

On their ballot paper, voters will be asked the question “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave?”, and they will need to mark an X in either the “Remain a member of the European Union” box or the “Leave the European Union” box.

The count — overseen by a team led by counting officer Alistair Buchan — will take place at 10.30pm at Kirkwall Grammar School, with the first sealed ballot box expected to arrive at about 10.15pm.

Once all the Orkney votes have been counted and doubtful ballot papers adjudicated, the counting officer will relay the local total to the Regional Counting Officer in Falkirk, who will authorise the declaration of the local total.

Counting Officer Alistair Buchan will then take to the stage and declare the local totals.

If all goes to plan, it is hoped that the local result will be announced in the early hours of Friday morning, with the UK-wide result expected around breakfast time.