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New Media Producer Ryan Morrison voted for the first time in the 2004 Senatorial by-election. Here is his guide to voting in the island. Like a lot of people in their twenties, I had never voted when the 2004 by-elections came around, in fact I had never really seen the point before. But this time I decided to give it a go; I mean everyone kept telling me, 'no vote, no voice' and if you ask anyone that spends more than a few minutes with me you will find out that I like having a voice, so in the interest of being able to carry on chatting I decided to mark my cross. The problem was that I was starting from a totally blank canvas; I had no idea how to vote or what was involved so I decided to find out and help other people on their way to shaping the islands political future. The guide This is my guide to voting in Jersey, and it's a lot simpler than you might think. So assuming you're already registered, let's get started... The first thing to do is to find your polling station. Most stations are at the Parish Hall, with the exception of St Saviour and St Brelade where you will need to know your Vingtaine (The chunk of the parish you live in), and St Helier, where you'll need to know your district. As I live in St Helier's number two district, I will need to vote at Springfield Stadium on election night. (I was able to find this out by giving the Parish Hall a quick call.) Your next task of course, is to work out who you want to vote for. To make this task easier we have put together a selection of candidate profiles and a guide to the key issues. Election day When you know who you want to vote for and where you polling station is all that’s left to do is for you to go and vote. On Election Day you will need to vote in the Parish you are registered. If you live in St Martin and work in St Helier you will still need to vote in St Martin, but with most polling stations opening up around 8am and staying open until 8pm this is something you should be able to do before or after work. All you have to do is go to your polling station with a form of ID such as a passport or driving licence, show the ID to the person there, get your ballot paper and mark ONE X next to the name of the person you are voting for. As there are six seats up for grabs in the 2005 Senatorial Election you can put up to six crosses next to your favourite six candidates. Then just walk out and keep an eye on bbc.co.uk/jersey or listen to BBC Radio Jersey (88.8fm, 1026mw and live online) throughout the day and into the evening to see if your chosen candidates got in. It really is that simple. | 
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