What you need to know about the council by-election

Orkney Islands Council is reminding people intending to vote in next month’s Kirkwall West and Orphir by-election of some important points to remember.

It’s anticipated that a significant number of those who are planning to vote in this election may have voted for the first time in September’s Independence Referendum, so won’t have voted in a local council election before.

Important points to bear in mind are:

• Nominations close for the Kirkwall West and Orphir by-election on October 27, following the list of candidates standing for election will be announced.
• The election takes place on Thursday, November 27, with polling stations open between 7am and 10pm
• Because it’s a by-election for the Kirkwall West and Orphir ward, only residents of this ward who will be eligible to vote. There will be two polling places – the St Magnus Centre, Kirkwall, and Orphir Primary School. Your polling card will tell you which one you should go to.
• If you registered to vote in the referendum, then you’ll already be registered to vote in this one too. If you’ve moved house since then, then check that you’ve registered at your new address.  You need to be registered by Tuesday, November 11.
• 16 and 17 year olds can’t vote in this election – that was only for the referendum.
• Postal votes need to be applied for by Wednesday, November 12. If you applied for a permanent postal vote in the referendum then you don’t need to apply again.  If you applied for a one-off postal vote, but would like to do that again, then you need to contact the Electoral Registration Office.
• When you vote, it won’t be using a cross in the box. This time you rank the candidates in order of preference, with 1 being your preferred candidate, 2 your second preference etc. You don’t have to include all the candidates in your ranking if you don’t want to. This voting system is known as the Single Transferrable Vote and is a system of proportional representation.
• The votes will be counted in the council chamber on Friday,November 28, and we should know the result of the election by lunchtime on Friday.

Returning officer, Alistair Buchan, said: “For many people, the Scottish Independence Referendum was the first time that they had taken up the opportunity to use their vote.

“We hope that that experience will have increased their interest in political systems and in the voting process and that more of our electors will choose to vote this time too.  There are some significant differences between the referendum and a by-election though, particularly in terms of the voting procedure, so we want to make sure that out voters feel fully informed on the process.”