You've cast your vote ... and now the counting of them gets under way.

The votes cast by voters in yesterday's KCC poll in both Ashford and Shepway will be counted today (Friday).

Counting in both areas gets under way from 9am this morning, with the results expected sometime this afternoon.

The outcome will decide who pulls the strings in Kent for the next four years.

The Conservatives currently hold 57 of the 84 seats contested across the county.

In Ashford borough seven seats were up for grabs in the county council election. Of those, five are currently held by the Conservatives, one by Labour and one by the Liberal Democrats.
All three main parties contested each of the divisions with the Green Party fielding candidates in five. One BNP candidate stood in Ashford South.
In Shepway district, voters cast their votes for the area's six seats.
Last time around the Conservatives took all of them.
They faced challenges from Labour and the Lib Dems in all six seats as well as a new party, Shepway Independents, the People First party and UKIP in others.
Polling stations across the county closed at 10pm last night.
Full KCC election results will be available on our website (www.kentishexpress.co.uk) as soon as we get them.

While locally most interest focused on the KCC elections, voters yesterday (Thursday) also voted for who they want to represent them across the Channel in Strasbourg.
But you’ll have to wait to find out if your selected candidate is successful as the results will not be announced until Sunday night, when the last election booths close in countries like Austria and Portugal.