How to vote

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You need to register to be able to vote

You can register to vote by downloading the application form below.

• Application to Register as an Elector 68kb

You should register to vote if you are:

• 16 or over (you cannot vote until your 18th birthday)
• A British or commonwealth citizen or
• A citizen of the Irish republic or of another EU state.

You can find out whether you are already registered to vote using our online electoral roll enquiry form

Citizens of EU member states can not vote in UK Parliamentary elections and must fill in a separate form to vote in the European elections.

Once you have registered to vote, your details will be added to the electoral register. This is a list of people who are registered to vote which is maintained by the elections team at your local authority.

How you can vote

You can vote in person, by post or ask someone to vote on your behalf.

In person at the polling station

When you have registered to vote, a poll card will be sent to you a few days before the election. You do not need the poll card to vote, this is simply a courtesy to tell you where your polling station is and when the polling station will be open. However, it will help the staff in the polling station if you do take it with you and it will make the process quicker.

All electors are allocated to a polling station. If you would like to find out where your usual* polling station is, please contact the Electoral Services Team for advice on 0300 456 0112.

(* Occasionally polling stations change at the time of a particular election booking. As such the polling station details given outside an election timetable can be changed closer to the event.)

Why is my name marked in the register and why is my number written down before I am allowed to vote?

The register lists all those people who are eligible to vote. The copy of the register which is used in the polling station is already marked up to show who has a postal or proxy vote, to ensure that they are not given another ballot on polling day. The poll clerk on duty will put a small mark against your name to indicate that you have voted, so that you cannot vote more than once, and also to ensure that nobody can try and vote at the station by pretending to be you.

The law requires every ballot paper to have a unique serial number. The law also requires that a record is kept of the serial number of the ballot paper that is issued to every elector. That is why the staff in the polling station record the serial number of the ballot paper against the electoral number.

At the close of poll the documents which list the serial numbers of the ballot papers and the list of to whom they have been issued are sealed in special packets and cannot be opened unless a court order to do so is obtained.

The reason this is done is to enable checks should a legal challenge be made to the result of the election. It is possible in UK law for the result of an election to be challenged through what is known as an election petition. It is possible for the eligibility of an elector's right to vote be challenged in the courts after an election. If the challenge is successful the court can order that the ballot paper of the elector be retrieved, the vote discounted and the result of the election changed to reflect the removal of these votes from the total.

Even then, it is very rare for the documents to be examined except in cases where fraud or impersonation (i.e. someone voting illegally on someone else’s behalf) are being investigated. Because of the above safeguards, it is virtually impossible for any person to be in a position to marry up the voter to a particular ballot paper. For that reason, voters can be confident that the ballot remains secret. Voters have no grounds to fear that the way in which they voted could be detected, except under the very special circumstances outlined above.

By Post

Anyone can apply for a postal vote for all elections, or for a particular election - you do not need a reason. The ballot paper can be sent to your home address, or to any other address where you will be staying on the day of the election. We can send your ballot papers to addresses abroad, but we cannot guarantee that there will be enough time to send these back before the election, particularly outside of Europe. In these cases, it may be better to appoint a proxy on your behalf.

• Download an application to vote by post 45kb

Please note that if you are applying for a postal or proxy vote during an election timetable which is already running, specific deadline dates will apply. Please see forthcoming elections page for appropriate dates.

By Proxy

A proxy is someone who goes to your polling station and votes on your behalf.

Anyone can be your proxy as long as they are eligible to vote in that type of election and they are willing to vote on your behalf.

You cannot be a proxy for more than two people at any one election, unless they are a close relative.

If you will be away for a forthcoming election you can apply for a proxy vote.

Download the form below  for that one election only . This does not require a supporting declaration.

• Download an application to vote by proxy for a particular election 52kb

You are required to give a reason why you require a proxy, and if you choose to vote by proxy for all future elections you will need to provide relevant evidence to back this up.If you require a permanent proxy arrangement please use the form below.

• Download an application to vote by proxy 104kb

The last time for the receipt of applications for proxy votes is 5pm six working days before polling day. New legislation has introduced a provision to appoint an emergency proxy after this deadline. Please contact the Election Services Team if you need to do this or complete the form below.

• Download an Emergency application to vote by proxy 90kb

Please note that if you are applying for a postal or proxy vote during an election timetable which is already running, specific deadline dates will apply. Please see forthcoming elections page for appropriate dates.

Last updated: 9 January 2012