Did you know it took helicopters, boats, and cars to ensure the ballot boxes from across ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥, Bute, and South Lochaber arrived safely at the counting centre in Lochgilphead for last week’s UK General Election?
Planning for the election started weeks ago and almost 400 staff were involved in the smooth running of the day. This included a range of staff working at 122 polling stations across ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ and Bute, processing postal votes, collecting ballot boxes on the night, and counting votes into the early hours.
¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥, Bute, and South Lochaber constituency is a vast area stretching from Kilchoan and Acharacle in the north and west, out to the islands of Tiree and Coll, to Islay and Campbeltown in the south, and across to Bridge of Orchy and Helensburgh in the west.
Due to the area’s diverse geography, this required several boat trips with ballot boxes from the islands of Bute, Luing, Lismore, while helicopters transported boxes from Islay, Jura, Colonsay, Gigha, Tiree, Coll, Iona and Mull.
Returning Officer Pippa Milne said: “We are very fortunate to have such a great team of election staff here in ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ and I would like to thank everyone involved in helping it to run so smoothly. Our unique geography presents its challenges when delivering and collecting ballot boxes but we have a knowledgeable team who work hard to get the job done and I am very grateful to them.â€