NORTH Ayrshire will go to the polls today to elect its MSPs to the Scottish Parliament.

Voters will choose their constituency MSPs in Cunninghame South and Cunninghame North and will also have a second vote which will help determine the seven regional list MSPs in the West Scotland Region, which includes North Ayrshire.

Voting gets under way at 7am with polling stations remaining open until 10pm.

The ballot papers will then be transported to the count venue at St Matthew’s Academy, Saltcoats, where 124 enumerators will begin the process of tallying the votes.

There is no definitive time for the announcement of results of the Cunninghame South and Cunninghame North constituencies, although it is estimated this is likely to start some time after 3am.

Organisation of the Scottish Parliament Election in North Ayrshire has been a huge undertaking for council staff who have spent months ensuring this will be an open and transparent democratic process.

More than 50 different polling places have to be set up across North Ayrshire with 148 polling stations. A total of 331 presiding officers, polling clerks and information officers have been employed to cover all polling stations.

At the count itself, there will be 149 staff, the vast majority of them enumerators who will count the votes.

The first stage, which is the verification of ballot papers, will begin immediately after the close of poll at 10pm. Once completed, the second stage will begin - counting the votes.

Once the counting process is complete - and if there is no need for a recount - Returning Officer Elma Murray will announce the results of the Cunninghame North and Cunninghame South constituencies.

The announcement of the final totals of the regional votes in North Ayrshire will follow from approximately 4am.

The votes cast in North Ayrshire will be added to the other local authority areas who make up West Scotland Region before the votes are allocated to each party and successful candidates announced at Braehead Arena, Renfrewshire, by Sandra Black, the Regional Returning Officer.

Returning Officer Elma Murray said: “Staff have worked tirelessly to ensure the process is open, transparent and runs as smoothly as possible on May 5.

“Polling station staff and our enumerators have undergone training which has underlined just how important their role is in securing an accurate result.

“We have been very encouraged by the number of people who have registered in time to vote in the Scottish Parliament Election and I would encourage every one of them to ensure their voice is heard by casting their vote.”

Many of those who applied for a postal vote have already completed and returned their forms.

In Cunninghame North, about 17.9 per cent of the electorate have applied for a postal vote while the figure in Cunninghame South is about 14.3 per cent.

Those who may require a replacement postal pack should do so as soon possible.

However, if you are too late to send back your postal vote, you can still have your say – just take your postal vote along to your polling station.

Anyone looking for further information on how to vote should visit www.aboutmyvote.co.uk, where a voter information guide will be available to download.