How the Holyrood election works with Ballot Box Scotland
The rules for a Holyrood election are slightly different to the rules for electing MPs to Westminster.
Have you ever wondered exactly how MSPs will be elected to the Scottish Parliament on May 7?
The rules for a Holyrood election are slightly different to the rules for electing MPs to Westminster or councillors to a local authority, and how the votes are tallied up differs as well.
You may hear phrases like “second ballot paper” and “d’Hondt system” and “list rankings” - The Scotsman has spoken to Allan Faulds from Ballot Box Scotland to try and get to the bottom of what all of it means.
Who can vote and do you need to register?
“The election to the Scottish Parliament has a much wider franchise than the UK Parliament,” Mr Faulds said.
“Basically if you are a legal resident of Scotland, regardless of your citizenship, you can vote.
“You can also vote at 16 - the UK Parliament will be following suit, but right now this is unique to Scottish and local elections.
“And unlike the UK elections, you don’t need to bring ID. It is always good to bring your polling card with you, but you don’t need to bring anything to vote.”
The deadline to register to vote is April 20. If you want a postal vote, the deadline to apply for this is 5pm on April 21.
Voters can also vote by proxy if they are on holiday on polling day, which is when a trusted person goes to the polling station and votes on your behalf. The deadline for this is 5pm on April 28.
If you are unwell on the day or have unexpected work commitments, you can apply for an emergency proxy vote by 5pm on polling day. All of this can be done on the UK Government website.
Why are there two ballot papers?
When you get to the polling station, you will be handed two ballot papers - one to elect your constituency MSP, and one to elect multiple regional MSPs. Sometimes the regional ballot will be referred to as the “list ballot” or the “peach ballot” because it is on peach-coloured paper.
Mr Faulds said: “The system for Westminster, which is first-past-the-post, is deeply unrepresentative and unfair, and in my opinion undemocratic.
“Scotland has partial proportional representation so the majority of voters have some voice in some form.
“Voters will be given two different ballots - one thing that is a bugbear for me is to default to referring to the system as ‘complex’ rather than attempting to describe it, because it is relatively simple.
“You have two votes, one for the single most popular candidate and the other which counts towards several MSPs across a wider region proportional to each party’s vote and taking into account the constituency seats already won.”
However, Mr Faulds is keen voters do not refer to the two different papers as the first vote and second vote, as you are able to vote for the same party on each paper and may not be handed the papers in that order.
On both papers, a vote is cast by marking a cross against the candidate or party you wish to vote for.
How are votes counted?
Scottish elections use what is called the d’Hondt system, which mixes together first-past-the-post and proportional representation.
Mr Faulds said: “The constituency element is counted and announced first because we need to know that to determine the list results.
“If you are familiar with UK elections, then whoever has the most votes, whether it is by one or by 10,000, they are elected which is why it is not a fair or proportional system.
“We could see people here elected with less than a third of the vote.
“They will then count up the regional votes in each constituency and once they have all the results we go to the d’Hondt process, which is maths we all learned in primary school, it is basic division.
“At each stage of the count you divide a party’s regional votes by one more than the seats it has already won so far, so if a party has already won two constituency seats, their regional vote would be divided by three.
“If they then win a regional seat, in the next round they will account for that, so if a party wins one list seat then in the next round their vote is divided by two, and so on until you have all seven regional MSPs elected.
“Each region then has 15-17 MSPs that are proportional to the votes cast in that region, but crucially is not proportional to the votes cast nationwide.”
Is it possible for a party to win a majority?
Mathematically, it is possible for one party to win an outright majority, despite a lot of political commentary saying this technically should not happen.
In 2011 the SNP won a majority under Alex Salmond. This time around, John Swinney is hoping to replicate that by winning 65 seats.
“It is possible with this system,” Mr Faulds told The Scotsman. “It is a myth of the system.
Read more here: Holyrood 2026: Who is eligible to vote? Can 16-year-olds vote? Do you need photo ID?
“The proportional system makes it hard for any party to win a majority.
“The SNP could get in the order of 60 seats while being proportionally due 50, and they could also get a bit more and get a 65-seat majority.
“It is mathematically possible, but it will be hard.
“In 2011 there was talk of the SNP ‘breaking the system’, but they actually deserved it. If they pull it off now they could be getting a majority with a ⅓ of the vote, and that’s not how Holyrood is meant to work.”
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