For the first time ever, three elections will be held in Exmouth and in Budleigh Salterton on the same day.

Voters in the two towns will be faced with three separate ballot papers on May 7.

Exmouth voters could have to vote for a total of nine candidates.

Budleigh residents will be able to vote for their 12-seat town council for the first time in 20 years.

Normally, Budleigh’s town council elections do not attract enough interested candidates for an election and instead councillors are co-opted.

Lympstone Parish Council will also hold an election with 12 candidates vying for 11 seats.

In Exmouth, residents will vote for their town and district councillors as well as their MP.

Voters will have to fill out three separate ballot papers, which will be different sizes and different colours, depending on the election.

Exmouth voters will be called on to choose their 25-seat town council.

Each of the five wards, Brixington, Littleham, Halsdon, Town and Withycombe, has five seats each.

Depending on where people live and which polling station they are directed to use, residents will cast their four votes.

Exmouth voters will also vote for their 15 district councillors, spread over five wards with three councillors in each ward, so voters will be asked to vote for three candidates.

And, lastly, voters will vote in the General Election, where a single vote is cast for one of five candidates.

A spokesman for the Electoral Commission said: “When voters enter the polling station, each voter will be provided with three voting slips – one for parliamentary elections, one for East Devon elections and one for town or parish council elections.

“The three slips will be easy to tell apart due the colour and size of the paper.

“The parliamentary slip will be white, the East Devon one will be green and the town/parish council one will be yellow.

“Each piece of paper will be a different size from the other two, so people should have no trouble distinguishing which one is which.

“The slips contain instructions; for example, ‘Vote for one candidate’ in the case of MP.”