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Dumfries and Galloway Youth Council

Dumfries & Galloway's Regional Youth Council is a group of 35 members who want to make change and get young peoples voices heard across the region.

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Dumfries & Galloway Youth Council Elections 2023 - 2025!

D&G Youth Council inc. Scottish Youth Parliament Elections are running from Wednesday 22nd November - Saturday 2nd December 2023. 

Any young person aged 12-25 (or 11 if in S1) is eligible to vote for who their next local, national and nominated representatives will be! 

Meet the Candidates

The Youth Council has 3 different types of role -

  • Ward Youth Councillors who represent young people in local communities, through schools, youth groups and colleges, to local decision makers. 
  • Nominated Youth Councillors who represent young people based on their identity, rather than where they live - there's Nominated Youth Councillor roles to represent Young Carers, Care Experienced Young People, Young People who have Additional Support Needs & Disabilities, Young Parents, Young People with Ethnic Minority Identities, Gypsy Traveller Young People, LGBT Young People and Young Parents. 
  • And, Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament who work alongside Ward and Nominated Youth Councillors to represent the voices of young people to national decision makers. 

Members of Dumfries and Galloway Youth Council are volunteers and their goal is to improve young people's involvement in decision making at every level. 

Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament 

There's 2 Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYPs) elected for each of the Scottish Parliamentary Constituencies in Dumfries and Galloway, making up 4 positions on the Youth Council. We have 17 MSYP candidates in total, 8 for Dumfriesshire and 9 for Galloway & West Dumfries with young people who live, work and study in each area eligble to vote for their next national representative. 

Ward Youth Councillors

There's 2 Ward Youth Councillors elected for each of the region's 12 Ward areas, making up 24 positions on the Youth Council in total. Below are the Ward areas, the communities they include, and the Candidate Information for all of the candidates standing for election. Areas without a profile have an equal number of candidates to positions available and so there will not be a vote for this. 

Nominated Youth Councillors 

There's only 1 Nominated Youth Councillor elected for each of the 7 nominated groups, making up 7 positions on the Youth Council. Below are the Nominated groups, and the Candidate Information for all of the candidates standing for election.  Nominated groups without a profile have an equal number of candidates to positions available and so there will not be a vote for this. 

Nominated Youth Councillors represent young people with minority identities who are often not heard in decision making - it's up to young people with a minority identity to vote for who should be elected to each role. We'll run voting through groups, and working in partnership with local organisations including LGBT Youth Scotland, Young Carers Project and Champions Board - however if you're not taking part in these groups and would like to have your say, please get in touch with us @YouthCouncilDG on social media or by e-mailing info@dgyouthcouncil.com - we do not ask young people for evidence of their identity or circumstances, and so you can pop along to any polling station (except library facilities) and ask for a Nominated Youth Councillor ballot paper. 

Where to Vote?

Voting is taking place from Wednesday 22nd November - Saturday 2nd December throughout Dumfries and Galloway. There will be a polling station at each secondary school, college and university in the region to ensure students have the opportunity to vote. In addition to this, there are a range of community based polling places in the evenings and at weekends for you to vote. 

Libraries across D&G are also polling places during their normal opening hours during the voting dates - please note, voting for Nominated Youth Councillor positions cannot take place at a library. 

Here's Where & When You Can Vote! (PDF) [123KB]

To vote  you will need to know your name, date of birth and postcode. You do not need identification to vote and any young person aged S1 - 25 is eligible to have their say.

Dumfries and Galloway run the vote using paper ballots, there is no online voting aspect of the Youth Council or Scottish Youth Parliament Elections. 

How the Vote Works? 

All of the elections use Single Transferable Vote which asks voters to rank their candidates in order of their preference by placing a 1 next to your 1st choice candidate, a 2 next to your 2nd choice candidate, a 3 next to your 3rd choice candidate etc. You can vote for as many or as few candidates as you'd like. 

When you vote, there will be information available to you to make sure you do not spoil your ballot.  

What Happens After the Vote? 

Once the vote has closed, we're going to be announcing the results on Tuesday 5th December 2023 between 6:30pm - 8pm! This event is by invitation only, however it will be livestreamed too through our YouTube Channel which you can find by searching @YouthCouncilDG on YouTube.

The Youth Councillors and Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament will then be going through training and inductions to their role. 

If you want to check out what the Youth Council are upto, you can check us out on social media @YouthCouncilDG on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook & YouTube.

If you would like to get in touch with a member of the Elections Team, please contact: 

youth.work@dumgal.gov.uk or by calling 01387 260243 or texting 07827954588