HOW TO VOTE

Different elections use different electoral systems.

Westminister (MPs)
Scottish Parliament (MSPs) / Welsh Assemly (AMs)
Local Government Elections (Scotland)

Westminster (MPs)

For the General Election there is a simple FIRST PAST THE POST system where you have just one vote, which you cast for you preferred candidate/party on your ballot paper by marking with an X.

Scottish Parliament (MSPs)

Scottish Parliamentary elections use a type of Proportional Representation called the Additional Member System (AMS).

With AMS, each voter has two votes:

• Constituency vote
• Regional vote

Constituency Vote

The constituency vote can be cast by marking your ballot with an X for any candidate standing in your constituency.

The candidate winning the largest number of votes in a constituency wins the seat on a first-past-the-post basis.

Regional Vote

The regional vote applies to a larger electoral area, known as a region.

Your vote can be cast by marking the ballot paper with an X for a political party or for a candidate standing as an independent within the region.

There are eight Scottish Parliament regions, and each region has seven additional seats in Parliament.

The number of votes for each party or candidate is divided by the number of constituency seats won plus one. This allows parties or individual candidates who have not won any constituencies to be included in the rest of the calculation.

The party or individual candidate with the highest figure after this calculation gains the first additional seat.

This calculation is redone to allocate the remaining additional seats, but each time any additional seats gained are added in.

By the end of the calculations, the ratio of votes to seats for each party or individual candidate has been made more even.

Council Elections

Single Transferable Vote (STV)

Historically, Local Government elections have used a first-past-the-post system to elect Councillors, based on the election of one Councillor to each council ward.

On 3rd May 2007, this will change to a form of Proportional Representation known as Single Transferable Vote.

The size of the council ward will be increased and either three or four Councillors will be elected to each ward.

When you vote you will be asked to rank candidates in order of preference (1, 2, 3 etc) rather than by making a single choice with a cross (X).

Put a "1" beside the candidate you like best, then a "2" beside your second choice, "3" beside your third choice and so on. You can express preferences for as many or as few candidates as you like.

The numbers you use must be in sequence. If you make a mistake, your vote will be valid up to when you made the error - for example, if you miss out a "4" and just rank 1, 2, 3 and 5, only your first three preferences will be valid.

The candidates you vote for may be from the same party, from several different parties or be independents - but every single choice counts!

If your first choice has already won enough votes to be elected, or is eliminated as a result of having the least number of votes, then your vote is transferred to your second choice and potentially on to your third choice and so on, until either three or four candidates have been elected, depending on the size of the ward.

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