Use your vote in Council elections

Orkney residents – including young people aged 16 and above - are being urged to use their vote on Thursday 5 May as the county heads to the polls to elect its new Council for the next five years.

The Council’s Interim Chief Executive, John Mundell, is Returning Officer for the Scottish Local Government Elections in Orkney – meaning he holds responsibility for ensuring the election and this Friday’s (6 May) count is one that everyone can have confidence in:

“Our elections team will put in place all the correct procedures and checks to ensure you can carry out your vote efficiently and in privacy, and have it counted.

“We’d urge voters to participate in Thursday’s poll as that is how they can have their say on who represents them in the Council chamber for the next five years.”

Councillor John Richards has served ten years as a Councillor, including as one of two link Councillors with the Orkney Youth Forum. “I’d remind and urge young people over 16 and registered to vote to please exercise that vote.

“You can review what individual candidates stand for - by looking at their individual campaign leaflets, at what they’ve said in recent articles in back copies of The Orcadian newspaper held in Libraries in Kirkwall and Stromness, and by listening again to the hustings programmes held over the past few weeks on BBC Radio Orkney. Many candidates have also set up their own campaign Facebook pages.

“At nearly every turn, Councillors will consider issues affecting young people, such as transport, mental health services, education and training, and opportunities for economic growth and carbon reduction for the county. These are all issues that we know are of great importance and concern to young people – casting your vote is the first step in having a say in who represents you on these issues.”

Polling stations open at 7am and close at 10pm on Thursday 5 May.

Voters should number the candidates in their order of preference – you can number as many or as few as you like.

Find out more about voting at www.orkney.gov.uk/lge22 ( https://www.orkney.gov.uk/News?postid=5754 )