Don’t forget to use your vote

Each resident in the Horsham District has been issued with a poll card, which provides details of the polling station that they can vote at on the day of the election, Thursday 5 May.

Polling stations will be open on 5 May from 7am to 10pm.

If possible, residents should bring their poll card to the polling station, but it is not needed to vote. The Presiding Officer will ask the elector for their name and address to check whether the resident is on the electoral roll.

Following this, the official ballot papers will be given to the elector. This year the elector will receive a white ballot paper for the District elections and a grey ballot paper for the referendum for the voting system. If the elector lives in an area with a contested parish election, the elector will also receive a pale yellow ballot paper.

The referendum ballot paper is not like the usual ballot papers as it is a question that should be answered ‘yes’ or ‘no’. The referendum is on the voting system used for elections to the UK Parliament and the question being put to voters on Thursday 5 May is: “At present, the UK uses the ’first past the post’ system to elect MPs to the House of Commons. Should the ‘alternative vote’ system be used instead?”

Once residents have collected all of their ballot papers, they should proceed to a polling booth and mark a cross (X) against the name/s of the candidate/s that they wish to elect per election and a cross against the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for the referendum. Instructions are given on the ballot papers.

For people who are eligible to vote by post, postal votes must be received by Horsham District Council by close of poll (10pm) on Thursday 5 May. If necessary, postal votes can be delivered by hand to the elector’s designated polling station or to Horsham District Council’s offices at Park North, North Street, Horsham.

To find out more about the referendum please visit www.aboutmyvote.co.uk

Further information about voting on 5 May is available by visiting www.horsham.gov.uk or by calling Horsham District Council on 01403 215581.