Why you're voting
There is an election on Thursday 3rd May to elect Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and local councillors.
Members of the Scottish Parliament
MSPs are responsible for making decisions in areas where the Scottish Parliament has political responsibility. Political responsibility for the things that affect people in Scotland is shared between the Scottish Parliament and the UK Parliament in Westminster. People sometimes refer to the areas where the Scottish Parliament as responsibility as 'areas of devolved responsibility'. This is because the agreement between the Scottish Parliament and the UK Parliament about sharing power is called 'devolution'. Some examples of areas where the Scottish Parliament has responsibility are health, education, housing and justice.
Local councillors
Local councillors are responsible for decision making within your local authority. They decide how money raised from council tax and money given by the Scottish Parliament should be spent. Although they may have to follow Scotland-wide guidelines, local councillors are responsible for deciding how community care services are provided in your area - or how to fund adjustments to schools to make them accessible for disabled people.
Note that, for the first time, local councillors will be elected using a voting sytem called 'Single Transferable Vote'. For more information about this, see the Using your single transferable vote section.