Voters will soon go to the polls to choose the next elected mayor of Watford however, the ballot paper may look different to ones used in other elections.

This is because the supplementary voting system is used for elected mayors in England and Wales instead of the usual first past the post system for borough ward and parliamentary elections.

Under supplementary voting, people have a first preference choice and also a second preference choice.

On May 3, deputy mayor Peter Taylor will stand as the Liberal Democrat candidate, George Jabbour will be the Conservative candidate and Jagtar Singh Dhindsa will represent Labour.

The ballot paper will list the name of each candidate along with their party name, party logo and their address.

There are two columns next to each name which will ask people to vote for their first-choice candidate by marking a cross in the first-choice column, and vote for their second-choice candidate by marking a cross in the second-choice column.

If voters have marked a first-choice, they can choose to mark a second-choice.

However, if they only mark a cross in the second-choice column, their vote won't be counted.

Manny Lewis, Watford Borough Council’s managing director and returning officer, said: “This is an important election for Watford because people will be voting in a new directly elected Mayor, so it’s vital that people do get out and vote.

“Because the voting system is slightly different for elected mayors, we have a huge number of spoilt papers at each mayoral election.

“We want to avoid this as much as possible by making sure people know what to expect before they turn up to vote.”

At the election count, all first preference votes are counted. If a candidate receives more than 50 per cent of the first preference votes on the first count, they are elected.

If no candidate has more than 50 per cent of the vote, the second preference votes are then counted.

Borough elections will also be taking place on the same day but these elections will use the traditional first past the post electoral system.

Watford is taking part in a pilot scheme, run by the Cabinet Office, meaning voters within the borough must show their poll card before they can vote on May 3.

Poll cards will be delivered from 23 March 2018 to electors within the borough.

Visit watford.gov.uk/voterid for more information.

Don’t forget to register to vote by April 22 at gov.uk/register-to-vote