Changes to the voting system for mayoral and PCC elections

Mayoral elections and Police and Crime Commissioner elections previously used the Supplementary Vote (SV) system, where voters could choose a first and second choice vote. Now, voters choose a single candidate on the ballot paper. This is the same system as UK Parliamentary elections and local elections in England.

To support electoral administrators, we updated our guidance on these elections to reflect the change to the voting system. We have considered what activity is needed to raise awareness of the change in voting system and ensure voters and the electoral community understand it.

It is particularly important to avoid voter confusion if multiple elections are taking place using different voting systems.