Today is an election day in Medway.
This edition is just a quick update on the vote itself and what our coverage of the results will look like.
Election day
Polling stations are now open in Medway and will remain so until 10pm this evening.
Residents across Medway are voting for Kent’s Police and Crime Commissioner, while residents in Luton and parts of central Chatham also vote on the Arches Neighbourhood Plan referendum.
If you have received your polling card, you should know where to go to cast your ballot. If you are registered to vote but haven’t received your polling card, you do not need it to vote. Go to your polling station, confirm your name and address, and you will be allowed to vote, so long as you have an accepted form of photo ID. All voters will need to bring a form of photo ID in this election.
If you do not know where your polling station is located, you can visit the Medway Council website, enter your postcode, and they will, for lack of a better term, tell you where to go.
If you have a postal vote but did not remember to return it in time, you can drop it in to your polling station while it is open. You do not need photo ID to do this.
You may find people outside of your polling station who ask to see your polling card. These people are activists for political parties, and you absolutely do not have to engage with them.
Our coverage
The counting for Police and Crime Commissioner elections is a bit different to regular elections, and combined with the Arches referendum, makes our coverage a bit all over the place.
Counting for the referendum will take place on Thursday evening at Medway Park. Once the result is known, we’ll try and share it with our paid supporters via our Substack Chat function. Of course, we’ll also include details of the result in our Friday edition, which is free to all subscribers.
Counting for the Police and Crime Commissioner election takes place on Sunday. As the election is Kent-wide, each area will count its votes before submitting local results for collation to Gravesham Borough Council, which is handling the overall count. As a result, we’ll be taking a rare jaunt outside of Medway to be at The Woodville for the count, which will take place through the early afternoon, with a result anticipated around 3pm.
Once the outcome is known, we’ll likely release a short edition to all subscribers on Sunday afternoon, and we’ll include a more detailed analysis of the results in our Tuesday briefing edition.
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