A FRIEND has a phrase to describe someone whose capabilities he holds in some doubt.

"I wouldn't send him for a loaf," he says. It's fair to say this is not a judgment you would make about Mary Pitcaithly, the senior local authority official on whose shoulders rests the competent running of the independence referendum.

Solid competence is the impression, and a deep awareness that on referendum night Scotland must be seen to run its affairs well.

She is only too aware that elections have not always gone smoothly in Scotland — the spectre of the 2007 debacle, when 140,000 ballot papers were rejected amid the confusion of combined Holyrood papers and council elections using multiple voting systems on the same day, still haunts those in charge of our electoral system.

As a result, next week, when the eyes of the world will be on Scotland, nothing is being left to chance. There are contingencies for contingencies for contingencies, and in charge of this is Mrs Pitcaithly, chief executive of Falkirk Council, convener of the Electoral Management Board for Scotland, and Chief Counting Officer (CCO) for the referendum.

She has overseen the registration process for voters and carries ultimate responsibility for the conduct of the vote on the day, for the 32 counts across Scotland, and after each of these local declarations she will repeat the results at the central count in Edinburgh where the running total will be collated. In short, in the wee hours of September 19, Mrs Pitcaithly will be the public face of the referendum on our television screens.

How does she feel about the weight of history and the television exposure?

"It's challenging, obviously, but it's a very exciting opportunity to be involved in something like this. I've had lots of good wishes from people who have been there before. I had a lovely letter yesterday from Sir Neil Macintosh (her counterpart for the 1997 referendum on the creation of the Scottish Parliament) wishing me well, so you are aware of people constantly referring to how important and historic this is. But that's fine, it's a job and we just have to get on with it.

"I'm not used to world-wide attention, but few of us are. Yes, there's an added tension, I suppose. I just want all of us to do our very best to show that we can handle this. It's a team effort right across the country and there will be lots of good stories to tell without all the focus being on me."

Mrs Pitcaithly, 58, is from Falkirk and studied law at Edinburgh University before joining a law practice. She did not particularly plan on a career in local government but took a job with the old Falkirk District Council at a time when she wanted to be closer to her father, who was unwell.

Promotion followed and she transferred across to the new unitary authorities, becoming assistant chief executive in 1995 and chief executive in 1998.

"This town really means a lot to me," she says. As a widow, her daughter and extended family mean a lot to her. "I enjoy cooking, reading, cinema, and travel when I get time. I wish I could tell you I run ultra-marathons but I'm afraid not."

But does being council chief in her hometown not have its disadvantages? "Let's put it this way, a trip around Tesco can be interesting."

It was the report into events of 2007 by Canadian expert Ron Gould that led to the creation of the Electoral Management Board and Chief Counting Officer but not all of his recommendations have been accepted in full.

For example, he recommended an end to overnight counting, but instead it was decided that this should be decided on a case by case basis. The council elections last year were counted the following day.

"The lesson learned is that we should look at every election on its merits. The referendum is one where, almost instinctively, you know people will want to know the result of this referendum, so unless there were good reasons you start with that as your premise.

"But it's not a race. We know people want to know the result and we're certainly not going to sit about and make anybody wait longer than necessary but accuracy is more important than speed."

Even if Scotland votes Yes or No by a single vote there will be no national recount. She explains: "There will potentially be a number of recounts but not a national recount. The counting is done locally so the ballot papers are in local areas.

"That's where they are counted and that's where they would have to be recounted, if this is requested and granted, on the same basis as always, if someone raises a concern about the process they have witnessed at a local level.

"What happens after the result has been authorised for declaration at a local level, and I have repeated it at Ingliston, is that the ballot papers have seals applied and they can only be opened up on the order of a court, so I couldn't just say: 'It's getting a wee bit close, let's go back and open all these up again'.

"So that's the process. It's 32 separate counts, each conducted to the same degree of rigour, each with robust processes in place, each observed by many people who have a right to be there with a right to raise any objections.

"Indeed they would be encouraged to raise any concerns in the course of a count so that at the end of it each result should be being accepted as accurate in its own right. Then, if those get added up and it starts to look very close, that's just the way it is. They might not like the result locally or nationally, but they should not have any doubts about the way it was done."

As revealed in The Herald, the CCO is happy about the likely high turnout but not blind to the impact this might have on the night if people turn up at polling stations only to discover they are not registered to vote, or turn up just before the polls close at 10pm a find a queue.

"There will be at least two officials at each polling station, a presiding officer and a clerk, and there could be others. There could be more than one polling station at a polling place, particularly in a busy area, or there could be an extra clerk of information officer.

"At that stage if a queue starts to form before 10 o'clock the PO would ask one of the other members of staff to go out and mark the end of the queue and say this is it, anybody behind me now isn't going to get in but if you're in front of me you will.

"If there's any issue about trouble I would expect them to be using their mobile phone to contact the local police to see if they need support. So if people start jostling or whatever, phone the police. If a queue is starting to form I would imagine it would not be a common occurrence so the police would probably be interested."

She adds: "You would not expect a police presence all day at every station but at busy stations or, if there have been any issues in the course of the day, that would be an operational matter for the police.

"The other thing we have done is to put a limit on the number of electors who can use each polling station, so in some elections where we might anticipate a relatively low turnout we have been comfortable for polling stations to have 1200 or even more electors using them.

"This time we have said that generally 800 should be the maximum. That's a lot lower than we would normally have so it should minimise the likelihood of queues.

"We will allow it to go over that in some areas where we are confident the returning officers have enough staff and will be able to cope.

"We're trying to minimise the possibility of potential queues. We don't want people to turn up and to get fed up waiting and disappear. We want them to be able to come in, cast their vote and leave without any barriers to that."

Might it all go pear-shaped on the night? I recall an attack on a polling station in Edinburgh by a man who smashed the ballot boxes with a golf club.

"As counting officers we all have what we call risk registers, and we have one as the chief counting officer team.

"So this would try to take account of any foreseeable risks and contingencies you might have to deal with, so we have alternative venues if we have to conduct the count somewhere else.

"We always have a Plan B - oh, we shouldn't say that in this referendum - but we have contingencies in place for anything occurring.

"I suspect no-one had the specific risk for 'man runs amok with a golf club in polling station' but you would have plans for disruption in a polling stations or ballot boxes being damaged."

Weather, storms, boats and helicopters. Venues burning down. Contingencies for contingencies. The key for the big night.