A guide to voting in the UK
24 May 2024
With a Parliamentary General Election announced in the UK for Thursday 4th July 2024, you might be wondering how to make sure you’re ready to cast your vote. Whether you’re voting for the first time, or if you’ve been voting your whole adult life, this blog will cover the key things you need to know.
Are you eligible to vote?
While there are several different elections which take place across the UK, your eligibility to vote will depend on a few factors:
- Your age
- Your nationality
- Where you live
- Whether you’ve registered to vote
Different elections and referendums in the UK have different rules about who can vote. This means not everyone can vote in every election.
However, in a General Election, you will be eligible if you’ve registered to vote in the constituency, if you are over 18 years old, you are either a British citizen, a qualifying Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, and you are not subject to any ‘legal incapacity’ to vote.
How do you register to vote?
You need to register to be able to vote in elections and referendums. If you’ve changed your name, moved address, or changed nationality and have been registered to vote before, then you’ll need to register again with your new details. The deadline to register to vote in the Parliamentary General Election on Thursday 4th July is Tuesday 18th June.
For more details on who can register and how to do it online, visit the register to vote page on the UK Government website. A paper form to register can be obtained from your Local Electoral Registration Office.
Ways of voting
There are three ways of voting:
- In-person at a polling station
- By post
- By applying for someone else to vote for you, also called voting by proxy.
Voting in person
When you vote in person, you’ll need to go to your local polling station. These are usually in public buildings, such as schools or local halls. Shortly before an election, you’ll be sent a poll card if you are on the electoral register. This will give you information about the date of the election and the address of the polling station you must use to vote. You’re only allowed to vote at the polling station on your poll card.
Polling stations will be open on election days from 7am to 10pm. You don’t need to take your poll card with you and you’re still able to vote if you’ve lost it, but having it with you might make it quicker when you get there. If you haven’t received a poll card but think you should, contact your Local Electoral Registration Office.
Whilst you may not need your poll card to vote, you will need photo ID. There’s a list of the acceptable forms of photo ID on GOV.UK and it includes a range of different options including; driving licences, passports and certain bus passes. If you don’t have suitable photo ID or your ID is in a different name to the one you registered to vote with, you can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate.
What if I don't have photo ID?
A Voter Authority Certificate is a photo ID document that can only be used to prove your identity at a polling station. They ‘re free to apply for, You’ll need a recent digital photo of yourself and your National Insurance number. You can still apply if you don’t have a National Insurance number (You’ll need to provide other documents to prove your identity, for example a birth certificate, bank statement or utility bill). To apply online you can visit GOV.UK where you can also find details of how to apply by post.
If you need help with the digital skills to take your own digital photo, this Digital Wings module on digital photography may help.
Voting by post
You might want to apply for a postal vote if it is more convenient for you, for example if:
- You’re away from home at the time of the election
- You’re abroad and want to vote in England, Scotland, or Wales
- You don’t need to give a reason unless you’re voting in Northern Ireland
You can apply for a postal vote for the following lengths of time:
- a single election on a specific date
- a specific period if you want to vote in England, Scotland, or Wales
- up to 3 years.
There are different ways to apply for a postal vote both online and by post:
To apply online, you’ll still need to prove your identity, by uploading a photo of your handwritten signature in black ink on plain white paper. You can apply for a signature waiver if you are unable to do this, but you might be asked for extra documents to identify you.
There’s also a different form to apply to vote by post in Northern Ireland.
You can find more information about how a postal vote works on GOV.UK.
Voting by proxy
You can have someone vote for you if you’re unable to go to a polling station yourself. This is called a proxy.
A proxy can be used to vote in:
- General elections and other UK Parliamentary elections
- Local elections in England (including mayors)
- Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England and Wales
- Referendums
- MP recall petitions
You and your proxy must both be registered to vote in the UK before you can apply. You’ll be asked to provide some supporting information to explain why you need a proxy, such as a letter from your employer.
In some parts of the UK, there’s a different way to apply:
- In Northern Ireland
- For the Senedd Cymru (Welsh Parliament), Scottish Parliament and local elections in Scotland and Wales using a paper form.
To find out more and apply online or by post, click here.
Now you know how to register to vote and you have explored the requirements you need to cast your vote, all that’s left to decide is who to vote for. That part is up to you. If you need help with how to search the internet to research candidates and their political parties, then please have a read of our Digital Wings module here.