As the yes and no campaigns make their final push in the battle for Scotland’s future, minds are turning to polling day. What happens after polling stations close on Thursday? And when will the final result be known?
Rally in Inverness, a city in the Scottish Highlands-pic via: twitter.com/Yesinverness/
Polling stations in Scotland will be open from 7am until 10pm on Thursday 18 September for the public to cast their vote on independence. But what will happen once the booths close?
The unofficial estimated time of the result is around 7am on Friday morning, but the lack of precedent makes this hard to predict. The fact that there are only two options on the ballot paper should make the count easier than with other elections (the papers can either be counted as yes, no or invalid).
But turnout is expected to be huge, so there will be more votes to count than usual. Some 97% of Scotland’s population (4.29 million adults) are registered to vote, the largest electorate the nation has ever known.
Ballot papers will start being counted as soon as the polls close in Scotland’s 32 local authority areas. The count will go on through the night, with each counting office reporting their result separately.
Counting offices will report local totals to the chief counting officer designate, Mary Pitcaithly, who will verify them and authorise local announcements. The official declaration of the final national result will be made by Pitcaithly following receipt of all 32 local totals.
Declaration times for the Scottish referendum are difficult to forecast owing to the lack of precedents. For example, the 1997 devolution referendum had two propositions, while the circumstances of the 2012 local elections were different in significant respects.
The Electoral Management Board for Scotland (EMBS) has warned that counts in certain areas may be delayed by poor weather conditions as ballot boxes need to be transported to counting centers to be recorded. The board has stressed that Scotland’s 32 local authority areas are very diverse:
There are mainland communities where the logistics of getting ballot boxes to the count is straightforward and there are island authorities where the movement of ballot boxes involves boats and aircraft and is dependent on the weather.
Areas that may experience problems include Argyll and Bute and the Western Isles. In elections, Argyll and Bute doesn’t normally count votes overnight because of the difficulties in retrieving ballot boxes from some islands in the dark. But, for this referendum, plans are in place to facilitate an overnight count, with special transport arrangements or separate satellite counts.
The use of a helicopter to transport ballot boxes from parts of the Western Isles is planned, but in the event of bad weather alternative road and sea transport will have to be used.
The EMBS says its priority is accuracy, not speed. There is no legislation that would allow for a national recount, although smaller recounts at a local level might take place if there are discrepancies, so they need to get it right first time.
Pitcaithly says she recognises the “theatre and excitement of this unique and important event”. “However it is an operation which is to be built on principles of good process,” she says. “Getting the result right is more important than getting it quickly.”
Courtesy:The Guardian