THE first votes have been cast in the local elections in our area - a week before polling day.

Residents who have opted to vote by post have been receiving their ballot papers through the door this week.

A record number of people have applied to vote by post this year, with more than 9,000 Selby district residents and 13,300 York residents choosing the method ahead of going to the polling stations.

In 2003, there were 8,780 postal votes issued in York.

As previously reported in The Press, security arrangements for the postal voting system have been tightened this year, in a bid to protect against fraud.

Anyone voting by post has had to register their signature and date of birth.

These will then be checked against the confidential postal vote statement which accompanies the sealed ballot paper, to ensure someone else has not used the vote.

In the 2005 General Election, postal votes for 1,500 residents in south York had to be delivered by hand following an error, and 264 in Selby were discounted as they were not completed properly.

Legislation passed in 2001 extended the right to vote by post to anyone who wanted to do so. Previously this right was only given to those not able to attend a polling station.

The new security arrangements were introduced following the Electoral Administration Act 2006.

The whole of Selby District Council and City of York Council are up for election next week, along with 310 other authorities across England and Wales, including East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Hambleton District Council, Ryedale District Council, Scarborough District Council and a third of Harrogate District Council.

The deadline for voting applications has now closed.

Turnout at local elections has historically been low - it was just 36 per cent in York in 2003.

But in a recent poll in The Press, 84 per cent of respondents said they planned to vote this time round, suggesting turnout could be significantly higher.