POLLING history will be made next week when people in Blackburn and Darwen will be able to cast their vote on a Saturday for the first time ever.

The aim is to lure the missing thousands back to the polling booths following a severe slump in turn-outs at election time.

Last May saw the worst figures ever in Blackburn and Darwen for a council election, with an average turn-out of 30 per cent. In some wards the turn-out has been as low as 20 per cent and apathy has been a long recognised problem.

Other councils across the country have been faced with a similar predicament and the Government has decided the time has come to take action.

A whole series of ideas and schemes are being tried out across the country and Blackburn and Darwen has been chosen as a pilot area.

The plan in the borough is to try and attract potential voters when they come into the two town centres for weekend shopping.

Polling stations will be set up in the heart of both shopping centres and will be open to everyone. Anyone wanting to vote should bring along their polling card, but it is not absolutely necessary.

Darreners shopping in Blackburn will be able to cast their vote in the town and vice versa.

The two polling stations -- in Blackburn shopping centre and Darwen Town Hall -- will be open for business between 9am and 5pm.

When voting closes on the Saturday the ballot papers will be kept until the end of polling on election day.

Some concern has been raised about security arrangements, but town hall officials are confident the experiment will be a success.

Every ballot paper will be checked and a computer link is also being set up between the two polling stations.

Phil Watson, chief executive of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "In line with the Government's modernising, the council is attempting to promote interest in local democracy and improve the turn-out at local elections.

"We want to make it as easy as possible to vote for everyone in the borough. The polling stations will both be in the busiest areas of the town where the highest concentrations of people are at any one time.

"If this is a success then, who knows, voting on a Saturday could become as routine as doing the family shopping."