ELEVEN North-East councils are to hold all-postal ballots in next May's local authority elections.

Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford said they would be pilot schemes in making elections "more relevant, straightforward and accessible for voters".

It will mean that for the first time in the chosen areas there will be no traditional polling stations, where people can go along and vote in person.

Voters will instead be sent ballot papers through the post, and return them in pre-paid envelopes

It is part of the Government's aim to modernise the voting system, with the ultimate target of all elections being conducted either by post or over the Internet.

The all-postal schemes will be run in Blyth Valley, Chester-le-Street, Darlington, Derwentside, Gateshead, Newcastle, Sedgefield, Stockton-on-Tees, Sunderland, Wansbeck and Wear Valley.

Derwentside, Chester-le-Street and Wear Valley will have "e-counting" of the results, through the use of bar-codes, rather than using people to physically thumb through piles of ballot papers.

They are among 41 councils nationally who have successfully bid to take part in the experiment.

Sam Younger, chairman of the Electoral Commission, said: "Our key objective is to make voting more accessible to the electorate, but without compromising security or public confidence."

Bill Etherington, North Sunderland MP, welcomed anything that would increase voter turnout, but said he was "fairly neutral" about extending postal ballots.

"You have to question the attitude of people who can't be bothered to stroll down to the polling station," he said.