Using your vote

On Thursday 5 May there will be an election to the Scottish Parliament. There will be two ballot forms, because there are two ways for parliamentary members to represent the people they serve. Of the 129 elected members, 73 represent a constituency. The other 56 are regional members, meaning they represent one of the eight electoral regions of Scotland. Each electoral region includes a number of constituencies.

Everyone in Scotland is thus represented by eight MSPs. One of them is the Scottish Parliament constituency, (ie. Kenneth Gibson in the preceding parliament represented Arran and North Ayrshire.) The other seven all represent the wider region, in our case the West of Scotland.

For this reason, when you go to the polling station you will be given two ballot papers, one mauve and one peach-coloured. The mauve one is to elect your constituency member, so it needs a single cross (X) in the box opposite the name of one candidate. It’s a straight ‘first-past-the-post’ competition, and the candidate with the most votes wins.

The peach coloured ballot paper is to elect your regional members.

Use this ballot paper to vote for a candidate to represent your constituency, but obviously it will be a different list of names and political parties. Again, mark a cross in the box beside your choice. The winners in this case are selected through a combination of individual votes and constituency seats won by the various parties.

You will also receive a UK-wide referendum form, asking what voting system you would prefer to elect MPs to the House of Commons.

If you want a preview of the ballot paper formats or any further information, go to www.aboutmyvote.co.uk.