Polling stations across the UK opened on Thursday morning [May 5] at 07:00 BST, with millions of voters expected to cast their ballots in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Voters based in the three constituent countries in Great Britain [England, Scotland and Wales] will be selecting which local councillors they wish to run services in their area.
In Northern Ireland, meanwhile, the public is voting in assembly elections to determine which 90 people will sit on the devolved legislature for the country based at Stormont.
Voters have until 22:00 BST on Thursday to vote before polling stations close. Most counting will then be carried out on Friday [May 6], with results expected to be known by Friday evening.
Not all local authorities in England will be conducting elections, with only 146 councils out of more than 300 local authorities in the country opening the polls. Meanwhile, elections will also be held in 1,000 parish councils.
All of Scotland’s 32 councils and all of Wales’ 22 are holding elections today.
While most people will choose to go to their local polling station in person or arrange a proxy vote for someone else to go and vote on their behalf, some will have already submitted postal votes to cast their ballot.
Figures released in April have suggested that postal voting is becoming a popular choice in Scotland. A total of 954,500 voters, representing 22.5 per cent of the total electorate, had registered to vote by post in the Scottish Parliament and local government elections in the year to December 2021. This was an increase of 38.3 per cent [264,100 people] registering for postal votes compared with December 2020.
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