SOME Bridgend Council residents will be able to place their May local elections vote ahead of polling day as a voting pilot scheme gets the green light. The participation in the pilot scheme was approved without any opposition at council.

The additional costs incurred in running the advanced voting pilots will be funded in full via a grant from the Welsh Government.

A total of seven wards have been selected for the pilot scheme, which will allow voting for the local elections on the Tuesday and Wednesday before polling day on Thursday, May 5.

The initial selection of wards to be part of the scheme was based on those that had the lowest voter turnout during the 2017 local elections.

Chief executive Mark Shephard said that by introducing the pilot, the council “would hope to see that it would have some sort of impact or effect in terms of overall turnout in those specific wards.”

The wards that have been selected are Brackla East and Coychurch Lower; Brackla East Central; Brackla West; Brackla West Central; Cornelly; Pyle, Kenfig Hill and Cefn Cribwr; and St Bride’s Minor and Ynysawdre.

A report by the chief executive states:

“These pilot wards represent approximately 27 [per cent] of the Bridgend County Borough Council and provide a solid foundation to run the pilots and assess whether having polling stations open for the two days prior to polling day improves overall turnout
rates when compared to the turnout rates in the other wards.”

Another pilot scheme being held during this year’s elections aims to make a difference in the voter turnout of its younger population.

Cynffig Comprehensive School in Kenfig Hill will also be introducing an advance voting pilot by opening a polling station on the Tuesday between 8.30am and 4.30pm.

The purpose of the pilot is to encourage registered students aged 16 and over to vote in advance “rather than them having to attend one of the other polling stations”, the chief executive said.

Mr Shephard added:

“This is unique. We are the only authority doing this and therefore it has attracted a great deal of interest from Welsh Government and the Electoral Commission.”

For the first time, 16 and 17-year-olds will be able to vote in the local election in Wales.

During the meeting, council leader Huw David, said:

“The way that we have voted fundamentally hasn’t changed for decades and decades and yet society continues to change very rapidly, particularly now with the enfranchisement of 16 and 17-year-olds who will for the first time be able to vote in local elections.

“I think it is important that we encourage as much participation as we can of those young people. The pilot at Cynffig Comp is vital to that.”

Bryncethin, Pyle, Bryncoch, Sarn, and Brackla were the wards with the lowest overall voter turnout in 2017.

Bryncethin had the lowest with 30.65 per cent of registered ward members turning out to vote.

The chief executive’s report revealed that Pyle was the ward that had the lowest turnout at the polling stations in 2017 at 25.24 per cent.

The three additional wards that have been added to the pilot – Cefn Cribwr, Coychurch Lower and Ynysawdre – due to the implementation of the Boundary Commission review which combined them with existing wards.