Views sought on postal vote

Orkney Islands Council is looking for the views of folk who live on the outer isles on postal voting arrangements.

All of the outer isles moved to postal voting for the local elections in 2012, and the council is now reviewing the process and looking at whether any improvements could be made in advance of the European elections in May and the independence referendum in September.

Fiona Ratter, the council’s elections manager said: “From our perspective the postal vote system is working extremely well. For the 2012 local council election, the return rate of postal votes from the North Isles ward was considerably higher than the turnout rate for any of the other wards.

“To our mind therefore, in terms of logistics, a postal vote system is the right thing for the isles. We just need to know now whether the actual arrangements are working, for example are the ballot packs easy to fill out, is there enough information provided and whether any improvements could be made.”

An online survey is available at www.surveymonkey.com/s/oicpostalvotereview or paper copies are available by contacting Customer Services on 01856 873535 or email Electionoffice@orkney.gov.uk.

Across Orkney as a whole, the popularity of postal voting is on the increase with 3,288 choosing to vote by postal ballot in 2012 compared to 1,457 in 2007.

Anyone on the electoral register can apply for a postal vote.