Time to cast your vote - district and parish council elections in North and South Kesteven

Votes will be counted overnight after the polling stations close, at OneNK Leisure Centre in North Hykeham, with results being announced online and on social media throughout the night.

Electors in North Kesteven are reminded that in order to vote in Thursday’s Local Elections they will need ID with them.

This is a new and different requirement to usual and only applies within North Kesteven at the May 2 elections – not at any other.

The District Council has been selected as one of ten pilot areas to trial Voter ID as a measure to combat the reality and the perceptions of electoral fraud.

On May 2, there are 76 candidates vying for 39 of North Kesteven District Council’s 43 seats in 23 contested Wards. There are no elections in North Hykeham’s Witham Ward,

Leasingham and Rauceby and Billinghay, Martin and North Kyme as the seats are uncontested, with a by-election expected in June to fill the remaining seat in Billinghay, Martin and North Kyme.

There are also parish council elections in six communities of North Kesteven – Bassingham, Brant Broughton and Stragglethorpe, Great Hale, Potterhanworth, Scopwick and Kirkby Green and Sleaford Town Council’s Castle Ward.

Voters need to remember that if they want their vote to count at any of these elections, they will have to show one or two of the 28 types of approved ID which they have all been told about on their Poll Card.

The white Poll Card is one of the 18 non-photo ID types that can be used, alongside a bank card, utility bill or cheque book for instance. If using a photo ID, like a driving licence or passport, only one type is needed.

In North Kesteven it is the white Poll Card that is needed, not the pink one which is for the European Parliamentary Elections on May 23.

And voters are assured that no data will be taken from the ID, only a note of which types are used.

For more information see www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/VoterID

A number of wards within the Sleaford area fall within South Kesteven and they will not be expected to bring ID to vote other than their poling card.

Voting will take place in 28 of 30 wards in South Kesteven. The wards of Aveland and Dole Wood are uncontested as the number of nominated candidates did not exceed the number of

seats. This means the residents of Aslackby and Laughton, Dowsby, Dunsby, Haconby and Stainfield, Rippingale, Braceborough and Wilsthorpe, and Thurlby will not be voting as neither district or parish elections are contested.

The SKDC wards of Lincrest, Peascliffe and Ridgeway, Toller and Loveden Heath will all be contested in the Sleaford area.

Local people will also cast their votes in eight parish and town council areas including Fulbeck, Welby, Hougham, and Pointon and Sempringham.

Aidan Rave, Returning Officer, said: “Local elections are vitally important. Councils are a fundamental part of British democracy, providing essential services that residents rely on every day.

“When people vote in the local elections in South Kesteven on May 2 they will be deciding who will run their services and who will work to improve the area where they live.”