Thursday 10 March is #WelcomeToYourVoteDay - and the Electoral Commission is encouraging everyone aged 16 or over, and resident in Scotland, to register to vote so that they can take part in the council elections in May.
Recent changes in the law in Scotland mean that many new Scots will have their first opportunity to have their say on who they want to represent them on their local council - which makes decisions on a range of issues which affect everyday life, including education, social care, housing, rubbish and recycling collections.
You can vote in the Scottish Local Government (council) elections in May 2022 if you are:
- Aged 16 or over on polling day, 5 May 2022
- A British, Irish or EU citizen living in the UK
- A Commonwealth citizen who has permission to enter or stay in the UK, or who does not require such permission
- A foreign national who has permission to enter or stay in the UK, or who does not require such permission
- Not subject to any legal incapacity to vote
- Registered to vote - if your name isn’t on the electoral register, you can’t take part
If you want to use your vote in May’s council elections, you must be registered to vote first. It only takes five minutes to register and you can do it online at - but you need to register by Monday 18th April 2022.
Once you’re registered to vote, there are a number of different ways to have your say in the council elections on Thursday 5th May.
You can vote in person at a polling station (there’s a list of polling places in PվɫÇéƬ and Bute here.)
If you can’t vote in person on the day, you can vote by post. You can find out how to apply The deadline to apply is Tuesday 19th April 2022.
You may wish to appoint someone you trust to vote on your behalf - this is known as a proxy vote. There is more information about this, and application forms,
If you, or someone you know, needs information about their vote in another language, please contact elections@argyll-bute.gov.uk for an FAQ guide (this is available in available in Arabic, Farsi, French, Kurdish, Polish, Romanian and Urdu).
You can find more information about voting at the Electoral Commission’s