SOMERSET voters will head to the polls today (May 23) to vote in the European Parliament elections.
Seventy-three MEPs, will be elected in nine constituencies in England, and one each in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The UK is divided into 12 electoral regions made up of the nations and regions of the UK.
Each region has between three and 10 MEPs and each MEP in a region represents each person living there.
The South West has six MEPs and they are currently held by William Dartmouth, Ashley Fox, Julia Reid, Julie Girling, Clare Moody and Molly Scott Cato.
Here is everything you need to know about this year's elections:
Who is running for European elections?
There will be 73 MEPs elected in the UK across 12 electoral regions: Eastern, East Midlands, London, Northern Ireland, North East, North West, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales, West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.
There are hundreds of candidates running. The easiest way to see who is up on the ballot paper in your area is by entering your postcode on the Electoral Commission website, or searching online for "MEP candidates (your region) 2019".
Candidates will also be running across the other 27 EU member states. Overall, a total of 751 MEPs will be elected across the bloc to represent their regions in the European Parliament.
When you can vote
UK voters or their appointed proxy voters will go to the polls today (May 23), while other EU member states will vote between Thursday and Sunday.
Polling stations will open from 7am to 10pm. If you have registered to vote by post, it must have been received by the council by 10pm on Thursday.
You can hand this to the council on the day if you were unable to send it by post.
What will be on your ballot paper
The paper will contain a list of parties, with a list of their candidates within them.
Parties will often list as many candidates as there are MEPs for the region - for example, London elects eight MEPs, therefore most of the major parties have each put forward eight candidates.
With the exception of Northern Ireland, UK voters choose one party or one independent, rather than choosing individual candidates.
How you can vote
Assuming you are voting in person, you will need to find out your polling station. If you are registered to vote this will have been sent to you by post, but if you don't have this you can find out by contacting your local council.
Once you are there, you will be given a ballot paper listing the candidates you can vote for. This will have instructions on how to cast your vote.
Take the paper to a polling booth and mark it either with the pencil provided or your own pen if preferred. The Electoral Commission advises not to write anything else on the paper or the vote may not be counted.
Once completed, fold the ballot paper in half and place it in the ballot box. If you have made a mistake on your paper, tell the staff and they will provide you with a replacement.
Voters hoping to vote by post or by proxy must have applied already.
If you're voting in Northern Ireland, you must take photo ID - the list of approved documents is available on the Electoral Commission website.
When are results expected?
The majority of countries in the EU go to the polls on Sunday, meaning results in the UK will not be declared until after 10pm on Sunday night.
The candidates running for the South West England Region are:
Change UK
Rachel Johnson
Jim Godfrey
Ollie Middleton
Matthew Hooberman
Liz Sewell
Crispin Hunt
Conservative Party
Ashley Fox
James Mustoe
Faye Purbrick
Claire Hiscott
James Taghdissian
Emmeline Owens
English Democrats
Jenny Knight
Michael Blundell
Green Party
Molly Scott Cato
Cleo Lake
Carla Denyer
Tom Scott
Martin Dimery
Karen La Borde
Labour Party
Clare Moody
Lord Andrew Adonis
Jayne Kirkham
Neil Guild
Yvonne Atkinson
Sadik Al-Hassan
Liberal Democrats
Caroline Voaden
Martin Horwood
Stephen Williams
Eleanor Rylance
David Chalmers
Luke Stagnetto
The Brexit Party
Ann Widdecombe
James Glancy
Christina Jordan
Ann Tarr
Roger Lane-Nott
Nicola Darke
Lawrence Webb
Carl Benjamin
Lester Taylor
Stephen Lee
Alison Sheridan
Independent
Larch Maxey
Mothiur Rahman
Neville Seed
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