Can I vote in a UK General Election?
To vote in a UK general election you need to be:
· Resident at an address in the UK,
· Aged 18 or over,
· A British or Irish citizen, or a citizen of a qualifying Commonwealth country (full list of qualifying countries here).
If you are not sure if you are eligible to vote, you can answer some questions on the Electoral Commission website to check: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/who-can-vote/register-vote
How do I vote? To vote, you need to register before the election is held. The deadline to register is Tuesday 18th June.
You can do this online at https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/who-can-vote/register-vote. You will be asked for your National Insurance number, to help identify you, but you can still register to vote if you don’t have one.
If you have already registered to vote, and you are still living at the same address, you don’t need to register again. If you have moved home, you need to register again at your new address. You can vote in person at a local polling station, or in advance with a postal vote.
Voting by post
If you want to send your vote by post, you must register for a postal vote. A voting pack will be sent to your home before the election. You can fill this out and send it back without any cost. You can apply for a postal vote online, at https://www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote.
You will need to provide your date of birth, National Insurance number and a signature on your application form. These are used to confirm your identity when you vote by post.
If you’re unable to provide your National Insurance number, you will need to explain why in your application. The electoral services team at your local council will contact you to discuss which other forms of identification you will need to provide.
Voting in person
If you plan to vote in person at a polling station on election day, you will need to have an approved form of ‘Voter ID’. This is a new requirement for voting, and only applies in England. If you’ve voted in general elections before, you won’t have been asked for ID, but this time you will.
The following forms of ID are accepted for voting:
Passport issued by the UK, any of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, a British Overseas Territory, a European Economic Area (EEA) state or a Commonwealth country (including an Irish Passport Card)
Driving licence issued by the UK, any of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, or an EEA state (this includes a provisional driving licence)
A Blue Badge for disabled parking spaces
Any identity card bearing the Proof of Age Standards Scheme hologram (a PASS card)
Biometric immigration document
National identity card issued by a European Economic Area state
You will only need to show one form of photo ID. It needs to be the original version and not a photocopy.
If you don’t have any of these forms of ID, or you do not wish to use one of these forms of ID for any reason, you can apply for a free voter ID document, known as a Voter Authority Certificate.
You can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate online, at https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate or you can fill out a paper form, which you can put in the post, or take to your local Electoral Registration Office.
The deadline to apply for free voter ID to vote in this general election is 5pm on Wednesday 26th June.