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The_Munchmaster
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Scottish independence: Voters answer referendum question

 

People in Scotland will vote later on whether the country should stay in the UK or become an independent nation.

 

Voters will answer "Yes" or "No" to the referendum question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?"

 

With 4,285,323 people - 97% of the electorate - registered to vote, a historically high turnout is expected.

 

Votes will be cast at 2,608 polling places across the country between 07:00 and 22:00 on Thursday. The result is expected early on Friday morning.

 

Votes will be counted in each of Scotland's 32 local authority areas.

 

These will include votes cast from the 789,024 postal vote applications, which was the largest volume of registration for postal votes ever in Scotland.

 

Result declaration

 

After votes have been tallied, the counting officer in each area will communicate the result to the chief counting officer Mary Pitcaithly in Edinburgh.

 

With her approval they will then make a declaration of the result.

 

Once the results from all 32 local authority areas are known, Ms Pitcaithly will declare the result of the referendum at the Royal Highland Centre outside Edinburgh.

 

Ms Pitcaithly has said she will announce the result at "breakfast time" on Friday.

 

The result is most likely to be between 06:30 and 07:30, according to Elections Scotland.

 

That is because the final Scottish declarations in the 2010 UK parliamentary elections and the 2011 Scottish parliamentary elections declaration were made at those times respectively.

 

However, running totals - which can be made from the first declaration onwards - may indicate a result earlier in the morning.

 

The bulk of these are expected to come in between 03:00 and 06:00.

 

Local recounts

 

Because of the expected high turnout, counting officers have put measures in place to reduce the risk of queuing at polling stations.

 

The remote nature of some Scottish regions also means bad weather could delay the receipt of ballot boxes at counting centres, in turn delaying the national result.

 

Helicopters and boats are being used to transport ballot boxes to counts in areas such as Argyll and Bute.

 

Elections Scotland said recounts will only be allowed at a local level on the basis of concerns about process, not the closeness of a result.

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Trivia Question - since the Union Jack consists of the Scottish flag (St Andrew's?) - if Scotland ceases to be part of the Union, will the Union Jack change, and consequently will the Oz, NZ, Pacific Island nations with UJ's in there change as well?

 

Can see the usual, "Change the Aussie Flag while we are at it" debate raise it's head yet again (down here) if so...

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From themajorsofgolf.com:

It has taken the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews an awfully long time – even longer than it took Augusta National – but finally, on September 18, 2014, the R&A’s membership will vote on a motion to admit women members. TheMajorsofGolf.com understands that the R&A is confident the motion will be supported by its membership, leading the famous St Andrews-based club to invite women to join its ranks two years after Augusta National did the same.

 

A statement issued by the R&A yesterday says: “Members of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, will vote on a motion to admit women as members. The Club’s committees are strongly in favour of the rule change and are asking members to support it.â€

 

Technically, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is separate from ‘The R&A’, which is the company set up by the club to govern the game outside North American and Mexico (which come under the auspices of the USGA), although both the club and governing body are based and run out of the R&A’s imposing clubhouse that sits behind the first tee of the Old Course at St Andrews.

 

While the governing body has worked tirelessly to grow the game around the world, its efforts have been undermined by the all-male club under the same roof. Many people outside the R&A do not differentiate the club from the company anyway.

 

While this is a significant step for the R&A – both club and company – it does not mean that all-male clubs among Open Championship venues – namely Muirfield and Royal St. George’s – will necessarily follow suit. Royal Troon, which will host the Open in 2016, has its own twist by having two clubs, one for men and one for women. However, with the R&A now leading by example in holding a vote, it will become harder for the stubborn memberships of these all-male or segregated clubs to cling onto their single-gender policies.

 

Time will tell whether the 2013 Open at Muirfield will go down in history as the last Open to be held at an all-male club.

 

 

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