Scottish independence: 97% register to vote in referendum
A record number of people have registered to vote in the Scottish independence referendum, with 97% of the adult population now ready to take part in next week's vote. A total of 4,285,323 makes this the largest electorate the country has ever known for any election or referendum. The figure includes 118,640 voters who have registered in the last month alone, as well as 789,024 postal voters. It marks an increase of over 300,000 since the last Westminster election in 2012 and includes 16- and 17-year-olds who have had the vote extended to them for the first time. The unprecedented levels of registration suggest that predictions of a high turnout next Thursday – Alex Salmond has said that he expects 80% – will come to pass. Turnout in Scotland for the 2010 Westminster election was 63.8%, dipping to 50.4% the following year for elections to the Holyrood parliament. Much has been made in recent months of the so-called "missing million" – a term ...