Image source, @Darren_btn

Darren says his dog Woody the dachshund "had fun voting" and "was welcomed by the team" at the polling station in Brighton.

Image source, Ben Murphy

Barney the labrador "exercised his democratic right" this morning in Wallasey, Merseyside, according to owner Ben Murphy.

Jane Wakefield
Technology reporter

Image source, Warwick University

Voters in Gateshead are being invited to vote twice in the local elections - via the traditional ballot box and on a touch-screen computer.

Only their ballot paper vote will count, while the e-voting is just a trial.

E-voting could eventually transform elections, doing away with the need for an election count.

Several countries have experimented with such systems but security fears have held deployment back.

The system on trial in Gateshead has been six years in the making. Read more here

Image source, Martha Perrin

It is that time of year when our canine friends take centre stage.

As voters in England and Northern Ireland go to the polls, our dogs often join us for the walk and, sometimes, a photo opportunity.

Since the polls opened at 07:00 BST many a dog has been snapped outside a polling station and, as has been popular on polling days over recent years, shared across social media.

View our picture gallery of dogs at polling stations here.

If you're not sure where to vote, you can use this postcode checker, external, which will tell you your local polling station.

Polls close at 22:00 BST, so there could be a long wait for some results.

About 108 English councils are expected to report by 06:00 on Friday 3 May. The other 140 should come in throughout Friday, until about 18:00.

Results from Northern Ireland's 11 councils are expected to take longer, because of the different voting system there.

If you're planning to stay up all night and follow the television coverage, we expect the first full councils to be declared at about midnight. One of either Swindon Council, or Halton in Cheshire, is expected to be first to declare its results.

The most active period is between 02:00 and 03:00 BST when more than 40 councils are expected to declare their results. This includes the big metropolitan councils of Liverpool and Leeds.

Image source, Getty Images

If you're looking for a reason to vote today, here are some of the things that the councillors you elect are responsible for.

Of the places voting today in England, 168 are district councils which are in charge of setting and collecting council tax, bin collections, local planning and council housing.

The most expensive services such as education, public transport, policing and fire services are handled by county councils, which mostly held elections in England in 2017.

There are also 47 unitary authorities and 33 metropolitan boroughs which look after all the services of district and county councils.

In Northern Ireland, councils are responsible for delivering a range of services including local planning and licensing, waste collection and enforcing safety regulations to do with food, workplaces and the environment. They also maintain public areas like parks, cemeteries and arts centres.

There are six mayoral elections this year. The biggest is North of Tyne combined authority which encompasses Newcastle, Northumberland and North Tyneside.

Middlesbrough, Leicester, Mansfield, Bedford and Copeland are also electing mayors.

Not all local authorities have a directly elected mayor. Whether or not they have one is decided by the authority itself, often after a local referendum.

The 'metro mayors' - or combined authority mayors - are different. The North of Tyne mayor will be the ninth person elected to head up a combination of local authorities.

London has had one since 2000 and six other areas, including Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, elected mayors for the first time in 2017.

Image source, Getty Images

BRX: Brexit Party, set up by Nigel Farage.

CHUK: Change UK - The Independent Group, formed by former Labour and Tory MPs.

CON: Conservative

LAB: Labour

LD: Liberal Democrats

GRN: Green Party

UKIP: United Kingdom Independence Party

ICHC: Independent Community and Health Concern

RA: Residents Association

IND: Independent

OTH: Others - people representing parties not covered by any of the labels above

NOC: No overall control - no one party has a majority of seats on the council. Also referred to as a "Hung Council"

Image source, Getty Images

There are different types of councils across the UK and they hold elections at different times.

Today's local elections are only for 248 English councils, six mayors and all 11 councils in Northern Ireland.

And in some councils, not all of the seats will be up for election: many of them elect in thirds for four-year terms.

That means a third of councillors are voted in each year over a four-year cycle, with one year of no elections.

All of London's councils held elections last year, and Wales and Scotland had their last elections in 2017. They will elect these seats again in 2022.

The cats of England and Northern Ireland have been arriving at the polls in an apparent attempt to hijack the #dogsatpollingstations hashtag on Twitter.

They have been pictured arriving on leads and even in specially adapted pushchairs.

Twitter user Rob Bounds even managed to combine the new cat hashtag with #bikesatpollingstations.

Users on Twitter can now report misleading tweets about voting to help prevent interference in elections.

The feature was first rolled out in India and is being extended across the European Union ahead of the 23 May elections. Some users have spotted it going live in the UK in time for today's local elections.

The company says you can report tweets, external that are misleading about the requirements for voting and registration, or the date and time of the election.

Anne Rawson took this picture of her cockerpoo, Scooby, while out voting in the village of Chiddingfold in Surrey.

She says that Scooby "is a friend to all" and that his favourite kind of polling station is one where he gets petted and given treats.

Anne says his red collar does not indicate a political allegiance and while she thinks cockerpoos should be in government neither she nor Scooby are standing for election.

Image source, Anne Rawson

Finn the cocker spaniel (pictured below) "wanted to show his snout at the polling station," according to Sinead, who went to vote today in the Eton and Castle ward of Windsor and Maidenhead.

Image source, Sinead Hensey

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council suggests bringing your children along to the polling station, to get the younger generation excited about democracy.

In England's council elections, the winner is simply the candidate with the most votes. But Northern Ireland uses a system called Single Transferable vote, which means voters rank all the candidates in order of preference.

We've got an explainer on this voting system, along with everything else you need to know about the elections in Northern Ireland today.

Wholesome content #dogsatpollingstations is now trending on Twitter.

Thousand of people have taken to social media to post and re-post pictures of man's best friend doing their civic duty across England and Northern Ireland.

In fact, the hashtag is only just behind #LocalElections2019 in terms of the number of people tweeting about it.

You can look up your local polling station - or find out if there are elections in your area - with this handy postcode checker, external.

This is the biggest set of local elections in England's four-year electoral cycle, with more than 8,400 seats being contested.

A further 462 seats are up for grabs in Northern Ireland.

Results for about 108 English councils are expected to be declared before 06:00 BST on Friday.

The remaining 140 are scheduled to come in throughout Friday, mostly between midday and 18:00.

The Northern Irish ones will take longer to come through because they have a more complicated voting system.

All 11 councils in Northern Ireland have elections today. Here's a video guide to casting your vote.