"DON’T be caught out by a high turn out," is the warning as East Hampshire residents prepare to vote in the in or out EU referendum.
East Hampshire District Council’s Elections Team, organising the referendum in this district, believes the historic nature of the vote on Thursday, June 23, could bring electors out in huge numbers.
Polling stations open at 7am and close at 10pm, and voters are being advised to avoid peak voting times, such as after work, if they want to avoid queues.
More voters have signed up to the electoral register in advance of this referendum than did for the 2015 General Election, and the team has also received more applications for postal votes and proxy votes.
Sandy Hopkins, Counting Officer for East Hampshire, believes this indicates a high turnout on the day.
“We can already see there is a huge interest in the EU Referendum with more people signing up to the electoral register and taking up postal and proxy votes,” she said.
“We are expecting some polling stations to be very busy and there may be queues at popular times, such as between 6-8pm, as people come out of work.
“The referendum is an opportunity for people to have their say on one of the key political issues of our time.
"I would urge everyone to research the issues and then come out and have their say.”
There are now more than 90,500 voters on the electoral register in East Hampshire, 3,000 more than the 2015 General Election figure.
The number of people requesting postal and proxy votes has also increased significantly. The council has received 17,159 postal vote applications compared to 14,456 in 2015, and 1,199 proxy vote requests compared to the 2015 figure of 508.
A total of 71 polling stations around the district will be open between 7am and 10pm.
Voters must make sure they get to the polling station before the 10pm cut off but they will be allowed to vote even if there is a queue at the polling station at that time.
Before the 2015 General Election the Government changed the voting rules to allow anyone who joins a queue before 10pm to carry on and vote, even if that means their vote is eventually cast after 10pm.