Voters will go to the polls next week to have their say on how B&NES Council is run, with locals on the electoral register being urged to vote in the Referendum next Thursday by visiting a polling station between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., or by post if you have registered for a postal vote.
The deadlines for registering on the electoral register and for postal votes has already passed for the referendum, which will ask:
How would you like Bath and North East Somerset Council to be run?
• By a leader who is an elected Councillor chosen by a vote of the other elected Councillors. This is how the Council is run now.
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• By a Mayor who is elected by voters. This would be a change from how the Council is run now.
Locals can vote at the Referendum if they are registered to vote, are eighteen or over on 10th March 2016 and are a British citizen, a European Union citizen or a qualifying Commonwealth citizen.
Dr Jo Farrar, Chief Executive and Electoral Registration Officer for Bath and North East Somerset Council, said: “This referendum will be your last chance to have your say on how the Council is run for at least a decade.
“Once the Council’s governance structure has been decided by this vote, we cannot have another referendum on it for another ten years, so it is really important that everyone has a say and uses their vote.
“We have so far received 5,000 postal votes from the 21,000 who registered to vote by post, so if you are one of those who have not returned your postal vote yet, please make sure that your voice is heard, it only takes a few minutes.
“Your vote matters, please don’t lose it!”