This Technical Note will be published on the Council’s website following circulation to Members. Its contents may be disclosed or shared outwith the Council.
This is the latest in a series of Technical Notes to update Members on the ongoing planning and arrangements for the Scottish Parliament elections.
The Appendix to this Technical Note sets out various dates and deadlines between now and polling day and includes the dates and times of scheduled Postal Vote opening sessions.
Postal Vote opening will take place within the Council Chambers as per normal practice. There will be a session at 9.30am on Polling Day, 7 May. Later that day, the postal vote opening equipment will be moved to the Leisuredrome and there will be a second opening session commencing at 9pm. This second session will continue until all postal packs returned to the Leisuredrome along with the ballot boxes are opened and authenticated.
Polling ceases at 10pm and ballot boxes will then be delivered to the Leisuredrome as usual. Upon receipt, the paperwork will be checked. In addition, the number of unused ballot papers will be verified, so that everything is made ready for the count proper.
The Count will commence at 9 am sharp on Friday 8 May. Access to the Leisuredrome and the Count will be strictly controlled and only those authorised to be there will be admitted. This will include accredited counting agents appointed by candidates. In addition, the Constituency Returning Officer intends to invite all current Councillors as her guest.
Various Council officers will be present at the Count, including enumerators, supervisors and the Election management team. In addition, members of the Strategic Leadership Team will be in attendance to support Candidates, Counting Agents and Constituency Returning Officer’s guests.
The scale of the Count is such (there are 63 Polling Stations and so a minimum of 126 ballot boxes, plus postal votes) that the number of enumerators has been increased to 60 and there will be 5 mini counts rather than the usual four.
The running order of the Count will be as follows:
Both the Constituency and Region Ballot Papers will be verified simultaneously, so as to identify and deal with any instances where voters have placed ballot papers in the wrong ballot box
The turnout for the Strathkelvin and Bearsden constituency will be announced
The Strathkelvin and Bearsden Constituency Ballot Papers will then be counted and the successful candidate declared by the Constituency Returning Officer; and
The Regional Ballot Papers will be counted and the result transmitted to the Regional Returning Officer at Renfrewshire Council.
Throughout the duration of the Count, colleagues from Corporate Comms will keep attendees updated as to progress.
If any Member has any questions regarding the election, please contact Karen Donnelly in the first instance.
