Lately, it has been an incredibly hectic time for our Election team.
They’ve had three elections to organise in less than six months and have been busy ensuring that the democratic process goes without any hitches.
From serving the Notice of Election, to ensuring volunteers are in place at venues the team have a list of duties to carry out ahead of polling day.
This year they’ve had the Kilwinning by-election – following the sad death of Councillor John Glover – and then, of course, the early General Election which was held in July.
Following this, the team were quickly back organising another election after the resignation of Arran Councillor Timothy Billings.
An island by-election comes with it’s own challenges – but thankfully the September 12 by-election went smoothly.
The team is led by Tracy O’Hara. She said: “We have a fantastic team and lots of support around us so a big thanks to them for all their hard work.
“The Arran by-election was slightly different as we had to have many contingencies in place because of many different variables with it being on an island.
“We were in regular contact with the Royal Mail to ensure postal votes were dispatched, while plans were put place to ensure that no completed postal vote packs were placed in post boxes after the last pick up on Tuesday 10 September 2024.
“Ballot Boxes, stationery and eCount equipment were all despatched to Arran earlier to allow for any issues with the ferries.
“While most of the staff recruited for this By-election live on Arran, a small core team had to travel to Arran in sufficient time to prepare for poll, postal votes and the eCount.
“We were in regular contact with Calmac to ensure they were aware of what ferries the core election team were travelling on.”
“Having three elections in the space of a few months is unusual and its been a challenging and demanding time for the team. A lot goes on behind the scenes to make sure the democratic process is fair and transparent and this is testament to the work carried out by our election office. A huge thanks for their efforts.”Chief Executive and Returning Officer, Craig Hatton