You must register before the April 14th deadline.

Local Elections 2011 and Referendum on Alternative Voting

On the 5th May 2011 local elections will be taking place across the UK, in addition to the referendum on alternative voting (AV).

Registering to Vote

To vote in the election you must have registered before 5pm on the 14th April. All students living in UWE managed accommodation have already been registered by the University, look out for your voting card in the post; you will need this to vote.

If you don’t live in UWE accommodation and want to register to vote then go to www.aboutmyvote.co.uk for more information and to download a registration form. If you’re a student living away from home, you may register twice – many students don’t know that they might be eligible to register to vote at both their home and university addresses, so they’d be able to vote wherever they are at the time of the election.

What is the referendum all about?

The referendum is all about changing the way MP’s are elected to the House of Commons and changing from the current “first pass the post” system to “alternative vote”. In the “first past the post” system voters mark the candidate they want to vote for with a cross on the ballot paper. In the “alterative vote” system, widely referred to as AV, voters use numbers to rank candidates in order of preference, you put a 1 next to your first choice, a 2 next to your second, a 3 next to your third and so on. In order to get elected a candidate has to “meet quota”, which is 50% plus 1 of the overall votes cast. If no candidate meets this in the first round then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated from the contest and their second preference votes are allocated to the remaining candidates. If a candidate now has more than 50% of the votes remaining in this round they are elected. If not, again the candidate with the fewest votes is removed from the contest and their next highest preference for a remaining candidate is allocated to that candidate. This process is repeated until one candidate has 50% of the votes remaining in a round.

AV voting is currently used in the SU elections here, for more information you can check out the video here.

Which voting wards are up for election?

The UK is divided up into constituencies, which elect MPs, and wards, which elect councillors which make up the local council for each area. The election on the 5th May is to elect local councillors, however not every ward is up for election as they are done on a staggered basis.

Please note EVERYONE can vote in the referendum.

As a UWE student you are likely to live in either Bristol or South Gloucestershire. All wards in South Gloucestershire are up for election and a third of wards in Bristol are up for election. These are;

Ashley

Bedminster

Bishopsworth

Brislington East

Brislington West

Cabot

Clifton

Clifton East

Cotham

Easton

Eastville

Filwood

Frome Vale

Hartcliffe

Hengrove

Hillfields

Knowle

Lawrence Hill

St George East

St George West

Southville

Stockwood

Whitchurch Park

Windmill Hill

You can check your ward by postcode to see if your ward is up for local elections if you live in Bristol at;

http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/content/Council-Democracy/Statistics-Census-Information/ward-finder.en?XSL=list&PostcodeId=-2&WardLinks=

Frenchay campus itself including the Student Village, Caroll Court and Stoke Park are all in the Filton and Stoke Park ward in South Gloucestershire. The polling station for students who live on campus with be on the 4th floor of F block.

Why should I vote in the local elections?

Councils are responsible for providing local services and facilities. Your elected representatives, or councillors, also represent you at a local level making decisions on behalf of you about local services such as land use, refuse collection and leisure facilities.

Depending on where you live, your council is responsible for some or all of the following areas:

• Housing
• Environmental health
• Leisure and recreation facilities
• Libraries
• Local planning
• Local transport
• Parks and public places
• Roads and footpaths
• Social services
• Waste and recycling

Students as members of the local community are affected by many of the decisions made by local councils.

More Information

For more information about registering to vote and the election process go to www.aboutmyvote.co.uk

If you live in Bristol check out http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/council-and-democracy/councillors--democracy-and-elections/

If you live in South Gloucestershire check out http://www.southglos.gov.uk/NR/exeres/008809CF-CC1E-4B0D-B1C0-2772B0FDCB7E