How to Vote?

We have an excellent voting system, which is mainly free of influence and fraud. However, preferential voting is more complex than first past the post. Also in these local council elections, we are asked to elect a Mayor and the full Council so there are two ballots.

The mayoral voting ballot is fairly simple and best to number your choice in order of preference. Best to do at least four. If you vote for just one and your candidate is eliminated your preference will not be counted.

The vote for Councillors is a bit more complicated in that you can vote above, or below, the line. Voting above the line means that you will accept the preferences of the Group or Party for which you vote #1.

Voting below the line is for those who want to select candidates individually and have their own order of preference. You need to number at least four or your vote will be invalid, but best to number as many as you can be bothered to. Also, your vote will be invalid if you vote above AND below the line on the same ballot card.

To make it simple, let’s say you are voting for the Mark Swivel Team. Not that I am biased in any way and am just picking a candidate randomly. In the Mayoral ballot, you would put a #1 beside SWIVEL Mark in the bottom box. Then you would number PUGH Asren, LYON Michael, CLARKE Bruce 2,3 and 4 or any order you like. If you want to vote below the line, choose Group d #1, Groupo f #2, Group E #3 and Group G #4.

BTW, as a Covid restriction, polling booths are not allowed to hand out How To Vote Cards this time. There are polling booth supporters outside to help you with your choice but they cannot give you an HTV card. You can take a picture of the QI code and use that inside. If you wish to follow the Mark Swivel Team HTV, the QI link is below.

Happy voting and enjoy your sausage.