Deadline looms to sign-up to vote in local elections

VOTERS are being reminded of the deadline for both registering to vote and applying to vote by post in the forthcoming Highland Council elections on May 3.

Applications for a postal vote must be received by 5pm on Wednesday. The deadline for registration is midnight on the same day.

To be able to vote in the elections, voters must be 18 or over on May 3, 2012, and must be registered to vote; for example feature on the electoral roll for the Highlands. The electorate for the Council elections currently stands at 175,979.

Anyone not registered and eligible to vote in the election who wishes to register should contact the Highland and Western Isles electoral registration office at Moray House, 16-18 Bank Street, Inverness (freefone 0800 393 783).

More than 27,000 people in the Highlands are registered to vote by post. Eligible voters wishing to vote by post should apply to the same registration office. A requirement of the application form and in voting by post is to provide a signature and date of birth.

Polling will take place at 271 polling stations throughout the Highlands between 7am and 10pm on Thursday, May 3. The count will take placethe next day at Inverness Leisure, Bught Park, Inverness.

The election is to elect for five years 80 members of Highland Council, who will serve on 14 four-member wards and eight three-member wards.