Following accounts earlier in the week that the City of Edinburgh Council might use the new Meadowbank Sports Centre as a venue for the 2022 election count, the council have confirmed the position.
The election will be held on 5 May 2022 with polls open from 7am to 10pm. The count will be held at Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), Morrison Street on Friday 6 May.
Election officials will begin opening ballot boxes at 8:15am, then start scanning papers from 9:30am (as in all local government counts since 2012 this is an electronic count).
The council will work through the 17 wards in order, declaring each one as the contest is completed, with an expectation that the count will be complete by mid/late afternoon.
The reference to Meadowbank is that any postal votes will be processed there but the count will take place at the EICC. Postal Vote opening will take place in Hall 1 of Meadowbank Sports Centre. Starting on Thursday 28 April 2022 there will be daily opening sessions of the Postal Vote packs that voters have completed and returned. At these openings council officers only validate the voter’s identity. The ballot papers themselves are kept face down at these sessions – no ballot papers are counted until 6 May 2022.
There will be 63 councillors elected in 17 wards in Edinburgh and a candidates and agents briefing session will take place on 2 March by Microsoft Teams. Anyone who wishes to attend should email elections@edinburgh.gov.uk for information.
Nomination papers for candidates must be submitted by hand as well as electronically between 15 and 4pm on 30 March at the City Chambers. A list of candidates will be published after that time.
Although posters and signage are banned by the council, A boards may be used on election day itself, but the returning officer, Andrew Kerr OBE, the Chief Executive of the Council, warns candidates against using chalk stencilling on pavements.
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