Referendum Vote today

A reminder – just in case you haven't noticed – that it's voting for the Referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union today, Thursday, 23rd June.

Voting hours are from 7.00am until 10.00pm and for local Audlem voters the polling station is Audlem Public Hall, or Audlem Village Hall as it says on the Poll Card.

If you are registered to vote you will have received a Poll Card, or a postal vote if you have requested one. You do not need to take the Poll Card with you to the polling station although it is always helpful.

Counting will begin everywhere once the polling stations close at 10.00pm. The counts will be administered at council level, like a local rather than general election, so each area's ballot boxes will be transported to a local counting centre for their borough.

The usual process of verifying the votes will take place, before counting begins. The count will be simpler than most elections as it's simply a choice between two options rather than the normal division between multiple candidates. It should therefore be swifter than at a General Election.

The results will be formally announced on a regional basis, and then on a national basis in Manchester. There should be a good idea of the result before the national or even the regional totals are formally issued. When each local returning officer is ready to announce their local totals, they must check in with their regional returning officer to report the numbers and receive confirmation that they can announce their local result.

The bulk of the local results are expected between midnight and 4.00am, but a delay in any one local count will hold back the formal announcement of that region's total.

It is likely that the media will adding up the local results to produce a running national total so we'll know at each stage who is ahead and and regional variations.

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