Share

Postal voters urged to make their vote count

As tens of thousands of postal voting packs start dropping through letter boxes across Aberdeenshire, postal voters are reminded to read the instructions carefully to ensure their vote is counted.

When voting by post, voters need to fill in a form accompanying their ballot paper, giving their signature and date of birth.

As a security measure, these are matched against the signature and date of birth the voter provided when they originally applied to vote by post.

Around 30,000 postal and postal proxy voting packs for the referendum and the Scottish Parliamentary Election have been sent out to electors in the Banffshire and Buchan Coast and Aberdeenshire East and West constituencies

Colin Mackenzie, Returning Officer for the area said: “Postal voting is growing in popularity as a convenient way to have your say.

“But at every election, some postal votes are invalid, because the voter either forgot to sign the postal voting statement or wrote down the date they filled it in, rather than their date of birth.

“We’ve provided a guide to completing your postal ballot in your pack, so please do take the time to read it and provide the right information so that every vote will count.

“We need to receive your postal votes before polls close at 10pm on May 5.”

If any eligible postal voter has still not received their postal ballot pack by Wednesday, April 27 they should call (01467) 628509 for advice or email elections@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

The Electoral Commission, the independent elections and referendum watchdog, has sent every household in Scotland an information booklet on the election and the referendum.

Anyone who has not received a booklet can download it at www.aboutmyvote.co.uk or call 0800 3 280 280.