Voting underway in Scotland’s independence referendum

PanARMENIAN.Net - People in Scotland have begun voting on whether the country should stay in the UK or become an independent nation, BBC News reported.

Voters will answer "Yes" or "No" to the referendum question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?"

With 4,285,323 people - 97% of the electorate - registered to vote, a historically high turnout is expected. Votes will be cast at 2,608 polling places across the country until 22:00 on Thursday, Sept 19. The result is expected early on Friday morning.

Ballot papers will be counted in each of Scotland's 32 local authority areas. These will include votes cast from the 789,024 postal vote applications, which was the largest volume of registration for postal votes ever in Scotland.

Because of the expected high turnout, counting officers have put measures in place to reduce the risk of queuing at polling stations.

The remote nature of some Scottish regions also means bad weather could delay the receipt of ballot boxes at counting centres, in turn delaying the national result. Helicopters and boats are being used to transport ballot boxes to counts in areas such as Argyll and Bute.

Elections Scotland said recounts will only be allowed at a local level on the basis of concerns about process, not the closeness of a result.