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THOUSANDS of Scots have just days left to register to vote in the independence referendum.

Around 230,000 may miss out on having their say in the September 18 poll because they aren’t on the electoral roll.

It isn’t too late to get involved – but this is the last chance.

All potential voters have to do is fill in a registration form and return it to their local authority’s Electoral Registration Office by Tuesday.

Figures show nearly 4,167,000 Scots aged 16 and over are now registered to vote in the referendum.

With a potential electorate of 4.4million, it means about 230,000 people will not be able to take part in the poll.

Hundreds of new voters are believed to have signed up to take part in the referendum after the Record launched a campaign encouraging participation.

Regardless of whether our readers agree or disagree with independence, we think it’s crucial for Scottish democracy that they make their voices heard.

When you add the 230,000 who aren’t registered to the 820,000 expected not to turn up at polling stations, it leaves more a million people, about one in four of the

population, who won’t have a say.

Those least likely to vote often come from groups most in need of representation – the young, people from poor backgrounds and ethnic minorities.

We want to convince every Scot to seize the power their vote gives them and grasp a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Our drive is backed by the Electoral Commission, the

Scottish Council for Voluntary ­Organisations and the Scottish Trades Union Congress.

A RECORD number of voters are on the electoral roll in the Lothians after 30,000 people signed up in the last three months. From an estimated 705,000 eligible to vote, about 645,000 are now registered.

Broadcaster and Deacon Blue singer Ricky Ross: Scottish Parliament paved way for poll

I remember certain things in life: My first kiss, the first time I went to Tannadice and the day I met Tony and Cherie Blair.

There were a lot of us there that day – people who had campaigned for the Yes and Yes vote in 1997 to establish a Scottish Parliament.

When I met the Blairs, I said: “Congratulations Tony, but I didn’t vote for you. We voted for a Labour Government four times in a row and never got one so that’s why we want a proper Scottish parliament now.”

Cherie said: “Well, you’ve got what you were looking for now.”

We moved the chat on to Bruce Springsteen but Cherie’s words have stayed with me and I concluded that she had misread the scale of our ambition and the depth of our disappointment.

We had established, in the immortal words of Donald Dewar, that “There shall be a Scottish parliament”. And only because we voted for that parliament that this referendum is taking place.

You may want or not want an independent Scotland but you can’t moan if the decision goes against you and you haven’t taken part.

So, make sure you register and cast a vote on September 18.

Broadcaster Tom Morton: Campaigns have divided the country

(Image: Trinity Mirror)

Bored. Irritated. Infuriated. Ticked off with the way TV presenters almost slaver with excitement over polls which are at best bewilderingly inconsistent and at worst completely self-contradictory.

Angry. At the way, for months and even years, all kinds of energy, money and intelligence has been harnessed in the campaigns for Yes or No. And you can’t vote Maybe, either.

This is a life-or-death, forever-and-ever decision, and all of us have to take part, like it or not. And I don’t.

I live in the Shetland islands, where I would expect up to 80 per cent of those who vote to go for No. It’s where the idea of being at the mercy of a Scottish central belt dependent on oil and gas being produced off our islands is annoying. It’s our oil and gas. Get your own.

I resent being put in this position and the way old friends have gone in the huff. I’m fed up with the threats, abuse and the ranting craziness from Yes campaigners. I want it to stop.

On September 19, it will. But the only way to make it stop is to vote on September 18.

I will accept the outcome, whichever way it goes, but let’s kiss this ridiculous thing goodbye at the polling booth. Then we can get on with our lives.