Created in 2007, the ward elects three councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 10,871 people.

The ward was created following the Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2007 Scottish local elections.

As a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, local elections in Scotland would use the single transferable vote electoral system from 2007 onwards so Girvan and South Carrick was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards.

The ward includes the southernmost part of the council area on the Firth of Clyde coast and next to the council's borders with East Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway.

[2] Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections, the ward's northern boundary was amended and an area around Maidens, Turnberry and Kirkoswald was transferred into it from the Maybole, North Carrick and Coylton ward.