Press Release
Postal voters urged to make their vote count
As over 2000 postal voting packs start dropping through letter boxes across Shetland, postal voters are being reminded to read the instructions carefully when casting their vote otherwise their vote might not be 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 applied to vote by post.
The Council’s Election Returning Officer, Jan Riise says, “Postal voting is growing in popularity as a convenient way to have your say. This year we have 2035 voters out of a total electorate of 17489. 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 we can count your vote. We need to receive your postal votes before polls close at 10pm on 5 May.”
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.
The Council is also regularly updating its Elections website. The site address is www.shetland.gov.uk/elections
For further information contact: Anne Cogle, Depute Returning Officer on 01595 744554