Michael Crick: Postie power

Michael Crick explains how people will have begun to cast their votes as eary as next week.

He tells me: “People bang on about 7 May, but in 2015 it’s reckoned 20 per cent of votes will be cast by postal ballot.

“And, following close of nominations this Thursday, councils will start sending out postal ballot from next week – indeed most councils will do so next week, the chairman of the Association of Electoral Administrators, John Turner, tells me. That means some people could start voting a week today. Surveys show 20 per cent of postal voters return their ballots within 48 hours.”

Postal votes are sorted in the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre in Aberdeen, on September 18, 2014.