THE region goes to the polls today to vote for Welsh Assembly members and whether to adopt the additional vote (AV) system in Westminster elections.

Poll stations across Flintshire and Wrexham will be open from 7am until 10pm.

The Electoral Commission is reminding voters to arrive in good time as staff will not be able to issue voters with ballot papers after 10pm.

Voters can find out where their polling station is by checking their poll card or with the local authority.

Along with the rest of Wales, people in Flintshire and Wrexham will be voting in two separate polls.

One will decide the make up of the National Assembly and the other will give voters their say on how MPs are elected to Parliament.

For the Assembly elections voters will be given two ballot papers - one for constituency and one for region. A third ballot paper is for the referendum on the voting system. Voters are being asked to choose between keeping the existing ‘first past the post’ system or to change to the AV system.

Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, who chairs the Assembly Commission, said: “This is an opportunity to have our say on the way Wales is run, and with the voting system referendum we have a further say on how we should be electing MPs to the House of Commons.”

Those voting by post who have forgotten to post their papers can still deliver them by hand to their polling station or town hall by 10pm today. Election counts will be held on Friday at Flint Pavilion for Flintshire and Glyndwr University for Wrexham.

The regional vote results will then be phoned through to be announced at Denbigh Leisure Centre.

For more information on the elections, go to www.aboutmyvote.co.uk.

Voters in Chester, Ellesmere Port, Neston and Vale Royal (Mid-Cheshire) areas are also going to the polls today to choose councillors to sit on Cheshire West and Chester Council for the next four years.

The local authority elections in North East Wales take place next year.