Scottish independence referendum: the rules
When will we get the result? Could there be a recount? What happens if there is a dead heat? Find out everything about the referendum here.
Polls are open across Scotland from 7am to 10pm today.
But people who are still queuing at 10pm will still be allowed to vote. The law was changed following controversy about queues at the last general election.
Voters will be asked to answer the following question with a yes or no: “”Should Scotland be an independent country?“
The choice is made by putting a cross (X) in the yes or no box on the ballot paper.
You can vote if you are registered to vote in Scotland, and aged 16 or over today, and are a British, EU or qualifying Commonwealth citizen living in Scotland. Voters had to register by 2 September to be eligible.
Each of Scotland’s 32 councils are responsible for setting up polling stations and each council area organises its own count over polls close at 10pm.
Local totals are fed through to the chief counting officer in Edinburgh.
At that point agents of the yes and no campaigns can request a local recount.
The rules say: “Counting officers may have the votes re-counted if they consider it appropriate to do so.
“While they will consider any request for a recount they may refuse if, in their opinion, the request is unreasonable.”
There is no provision for a national recount.
The chief counting officer, Mary Pitcaithly, will collate the totals from the 32 councils and make the national declaration from the Royal Highland Centre at Inglistonรข??, near Edinburgh.
The Press Association has published these estimated timings, based on what has happened at previous votes.
Results should come in between 2am and 6am. But the news agency warns: “Declaration times for the Scottish referendum are difficult to forecast owing to the lack of precedents.”
Ms Pitcaithly has said she expects to make the announcement “at breakfast time” and has not been more specific.
If anyone wants to question the result, they have six weeks to launch a judicial review.
There is nothing in the legislation that tells us how the vote will be decided in the extremely unlikely event of a dead heat.