Today's vote may well be the most important you ever cast.

The referendum on membership of the EU will, no matter which way it goes, shape what sort of country the Britain of the future will be.

As in general elections, this newspaper has not come down on one side of the argument or the other.

Our journalists have covered the debate even-handedly - even though the weight of opinion from big business leaders on the side of Remain may have made it seem otherwise.

We know that despite the tone of the debate - as poisonous and divisive as any we have known, made by what Robin Day once called 'here today, gone tomorrow' politicians - our readers have well-informed, coherent reasons for voting on both sides of the argument.

You may believe a vote to Leave is a vote to free Britain from a morass of compromise and unwanted bureaucracy. You may believe it is a vote that will cast us away from the global top table, leaving us powerless and isolated.

Whichever you believe, what you decide today matters in a way that never happens in a general election.

Because today, every vote counts. The results may be announced council by council but no matter who 'wins' in Bournemouth or Poole, your vote counts in the final result. 

So please, vote. 

The Echo will be live-blogging through the day, and with a brief hiatus when the polls close, as the results come in. And we've got a guide to what you need to know about voting here.