TENS of thousands of East Renfrewshire residents will go to the polls tomorrow to cast their votes in the European Parliament elections.

And people are being urged to make sure they are in the know about how to make their voice heard.

There are 24 polling stations across the area, which will be open from 7am to 10pm, and voters can find out which one they should be going to by checking the polling card they should have received in the post.

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Any voter who arrives at their polling station and is in a queue waiting to vote at 10pm will still be able to vote.

Voters are required to mark an X in the box on the right-hand side of the ballot paper, against the name of the party or independent candidate they wish to vote for.

The election uses a proportional representation system and the number of party list or independent candidates elected as MEPs depends on the overall share of the votes each receives.

Once the polls have closed, the East Renfrewshire votes will be counted on Sunday at Carmichael Hall, in Giffnock, overseen by local returning officer Lorraine McMillan.

The results are due to be announced on Sunday, as this is when polling will close across the whole of the European Union.

The totals for each area are then reported to the regional returning officer in Edinburgh.

A declaration of the total number of votes cast for each party or individual candidate across Scotland will be made on Monday, followed by details of how the six Scottish seats at the European Parliament have been allocated.

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Across the UK, a total of 73 MEPs will be elected.

In the last European elections, staged in 2014, almost 170 million voters across the various EU countries took part, with a turnout of just over 40 per cent.

The UK had been set to sit out the 2019 Euro elections as a result of Brexit, with the planned departure from the European Union supposed to have taken place in March.

However, the failure to get a Withdrawal Agreement approved by MPs at Westminster means the UK remains a member of the EU and has to take part in the elections.

The new European Parliament will assemble on July 2, with the UK’s MEPs elected on the same five-year cycle as those from other countries, but their membership will cease as soon as the UK leaves the EU.

The current deadline for Brexit is October 31.