North Ayrshire and Arran gets ready to vote
Posted on 26 Jun 2024
North Ayrshire and Arran will go to the polls on Thursday, July 4, to elect its Member of Parliament in the UK Parliamentary Election.
Voters in Largs, Fairlie, West Kilbride, Ardrossan, Kilbirnie, Beith, Dalry, Saltcoats, Stevenston and parts of Kilwinning, as well as the islands of Cumbrae and Arran will choose their Member of Parliament for the North Ayrshire and Arran constituency.
Irvine and parts of Kilwinning are part of the Central Ayrshire constituency alongside areas such as Prestwick, Troon, Annbank, Tarbolton, Symington and Dundonald.
Voting gets under way at 7am on Thursday, July 4, with polling places remaining open until 10pm.
For the first time, the UK Parliamentary Election requires voters to provide a form of photo identification, such as a passport or photocard driving licence when voting. A list of accepted forms of photo ID is available here
If you do not have an accepted form of photo ID you can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate or you can download a paper application so that you can apply by post. Paper forms can also be obtained from the Electoral Registration Office, Ayr, and should be returned to the Electoral Registration Office by Wednesday, June 26, 2024.
Following the close of polls, the ballot papers for North Ayrshire and Arran will be transported to the count venue at St Matthew’s Academy, Saltcoats, where enumerators will begin the process of tallying the votes.
When the count is completed and, if there is no need for a recount, the results will be communicated to candidates and agents and thereafter declared publicly.
All being well, a projected time for the declaration is approximately 4am on Friday, July 5.
Returning Officer Craig Hatton has asked voters to ensure they bring valid photo identification when voting.
He said: “This will be the first vote in Scotland where you will need to bring photo identification, such as a passport or photocard driving licence.
“So please ensure you bring this with you to the polling place or you are likely miss out on being able to exercise your democratic right to vote.”
Updated figures show that 72,176 people are registered to vote in the North Ayrshire and Arran Constituency area – a similar number to size of the electorate at the last general election in December 2019.
Many of those who applied for a postal vote have already completed and returned their forms. In North Ayrshire and Arran, about 25.6 per cent of the electorate have applied for a postal vote – 18,511. That’s an increase of more than eight per cent since the last UK General Election in December 2019.
A full list of polling places is available on the North Ayrshire Council website.
Eight candidates will be on the ballot paper when voters in the North Ayrshire and Arran constituency:
- Irene Campbell – Scottish Labour Party
- Gillian Cole-Hamilton – Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Todd Ferguson – Scottish Conservative and Unionist
- Ian Charles Gibson – Social Democratic Party
- Patricia Gibson – Scottish National Party (SNP)
- Mike Mann – Reform UK
- James McDaid – Socialist Labour Party
- Cara McKee – Scottish Green Party