PEOPLE in Dumbarton and the Vale are being reminded to make sure they’re registered to vote in the upcoming Scottish Parliament elections - and also to ensure that they have their application in soon for a postal vote if they need one.

Scotland goes to the polls on Thursday, May 6 to elect 129 MSPs to the Scottish Parliament, including the constituency MSP for Dumbarton.

As this issue of the Reporter went to press, four candidates were in the race in Dumbarton - Jackie Baillie (Labour), Maurice Corry (Conservative), Toni Giugliano (SNP) and independent Andrew Muir.

The deadline to ensure you’re registered to vote is Monday, April 19, and if you’re a first-time voter, or have recently moved to the constituency, you’re being urged to make sure you’re on the electoral roll.

However, because of the pandemic, both first-time voters in the Dumbarton constituency and those who are already on the electoral roll are being encouraged to think about applying for a postal or proxy vote instead - and the deadline to do that is Tuesday, April 6.

According to government figures, the number of people registered to vote in Scottish Parliament and local government elections last year was 4,227,700 - an increase of 1.4 per cent on 2019.

To register, visit gov.uk/register-to-vote.

If you are already registered to vote, and you want to apply for a postal or proxy vote for May’s election, an application must be submitted to the Electoral Registration Office at Dunbartonshire and Argyll & Bute Valuation Joint Board, 235 Dumbarton Road, Clydebank, G81 4XJ.

Applications can be found at gov.uk/government/publications/apply-for-a-postal-vote.

To vote in Scottish Parliament elections you must be registered to vote at an address in Scotland, be 16 or over on the day of the election, and not be legally excluded from voting.