On the 7th of May, voters across the Liverpool City Region boroughs of Sefton, St Helens, Knowsley and Halton will be going to the polls to elect their councils.
These elections are occurring in conjunction with the local elections happening right across the country.
Sefton Borough Council normally has a third of seats up for grabs every election cycle. This year, however, is different.
The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE), the independent body tasked with making sure every local authority across England is representing its constituents effectively has made some major changes.
They have decided to change the names and boundaries of wards right across the borough.
Ward names have been changed to more accurately describe the areas they represent.
Major changes include the renaming of Harington and Ravenmeols wards to Formby West and Formby East respectively.
Other changes include Molyneux ward becoming Aintree and Maghull South and Park ward being abolished, and its area being split between the new wards of Lydiate and Maghull West and Thornton and Hightown.
A more in-depth breakdown of the changes to Sefton Borough Council can be found here.
The voting system for Sefton Council has also been changed for this election. Rather than one seat per ward being up for election, every seat is available. This means that voters will get up to three votes, rather than one.
Because of the desire to return to thirds every election cycle, terms will be staggered according to the order in which candidates are voted.
The candidate finishing with the most votes in a ward will win a full four-year term on Sefton Council. The runner up will win a two-year term. The third placed candidate will win a year term.
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First Past the Post remains as the electoral system.
Voters still need to present a valid form of photo ID to polling workers to be able to vote, in accordance with the Elections Act 2022. A full list of acceptable voter IDs is available here.
Full lists of candidates for every ward in Sefton is available on Sefton Council’s website.
Featured Image by Secretlondon123, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
