A record number of Highland electors have applied to vote by post at the Scottish Parliamentary elections and the national referendum on the UK voting system on Thursday 5 May.
A total of 25,137 electors across the three Highland constituencies of Caithness, Sutherland and Ross; Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch and Inverness and Nairn will be receiving their postal votes from tomorrow (Tuesday). This compares to 17,689 applications for a postal vote in the Highlands at the last Scottish Parliamentary Elections in 2007 and 21,908 at the General Election last year.
As the postal voting packs start dropping through letter boxes, postal voters are being reminded to read the instructions carefully when casting their vote otherwise their vote might not be counted
When voting by post, voters need to fill in a form accompanying their ballot paper, giving their signature and date of birth. As a security measure, these are matched against the signature and date of birth the voter provided when they applied to vote by post.
Alistair Dodds, Returning Officer for the Highlands, said: "Postal voting is growing in popularity as a convenient way for voters to have their say. But at every election, some postal votes are invalid, because the voter either forgets to sign the postal voting statement or writes down the date on which they filled it in, rather than their date of birth.
"I would urge postal voters to take the time to read the guidance enclosed in the postal packs and provide the right information so that we can count their votes. We need to receive postal votes before polls close at 10pm on Thursday 5 May."
Postal voters who do not receive their postal ballot pack by Wednesday 27 April should contact the Highland election helpline - 01349 886657.
The Electoral Commission, the independent elections and referendum watchdog, has sent every household in [England/Wales/Scotland] an information booklet on the election and the referendum. Anyone who has not received a booklet can download it at www.aboutmyvote.co.uk or call 0800 3 280 280.
The breakdown of postal vote applications is as follows: -
Caithness, Sutherland & Ross
Postal voters - 7,311
Postal proxy voters - 12
Skye, Lochaber & Badenoch
Postal voters - 7,795
Postal proxy voters - 19
Inverness & Nairn
Postal voters - 9,987
Postal proxy voters - 13
The total electorate in the Highlands for the Scottish Parliament is 174,308.