Register to Vote if not already on Electoral Register!

Another reminder that you don't need to take your poll card with you to the polling station when you vote on the 4th of July 2024, that day being the date of the General Election. However, you now do need to take photo ID . If you turn up at the polling station without photo ID, you will not be allowed to vote, so get it now if you don't already have an acceptable method of ID, and don't want to lose your right to vote.

3 Weeks Until Local Elections

You've probably all received poll cards by now, but you don't need to take your poll card with you to the polling station, however, you now do need to take photo ID if you want to vote at the local elections, and for Police & Crime Commissioner, on Thursday the 2nd of May 2024, and whenever the General Election is held. If you turn up at the polling booth without photo ID, you won't be allowed to vote, so get it now if you don't already have an acceptable method of ID, and don't want to lose your right to vote.

Acceptable photo ID includes an original (not photocopied) Passport, Driving Licence, Older or Disabled Persons' Bus Pass, Freedom Pass, other Concessionary Travel Cards and SmartPasses, PASS Card, and EEA ID cards. For full details of acceptable photo ID go to the Electoral Commission website.

If you don't have any photo ID that qualifies, you can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate, providing you are on the Electoral Register, at the Government website.

If you want your name to be added to the Electoral Register, go to the Government website, where you can register online, or, again, lose the right to vote. You have until 11.59pm on the 16th of April 2024 to register, and don't forget, a General Election is due within the next 9 months.

This policy was introduced last year, if you want further details, and of how it went for elections last year and by-elections, go to this Parliamentary Research Briefing.

For further details go to the Electoral Commission website. 👍

Don't lose your right to vote or forget people lost their lives fighting for your rights! 

Oh yes, and what a waste of taxpayers' money, the Government should have had the General Election on the same day as the local elections, just have the one day's costs not 2 in a year! Plus it would have been interesting to see how local councils changed with a larger turnout than usual, oh well...😒

Photo ID required to vote from the 4th of May 2023!

Please remember that from the 4th of May 2023 you will need photo ID to vote in elections (gov.uk). If you do not have one of the approved photo IDs copied below (list obtained from that website), or the photograph on your ID no longer looks like you, or it doesn't have your name the same as detailed on the Electoral Register, then you can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate at the website.

You will need one of the following types of photo ID to vote:

• a UK or Northern Ireland photocard driving licence (full or provisional)
• a driving licence issued by the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands
• a UK passport
• a passport issued by the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or a Commonwealth country
• a PASS card (National Proof of Age Standards Scheme)
• a Blue Badge
• a biometric residence permit (BRP)
• a Defence Identity Card (MOD form 90)
• a national identity card issued by the EU, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein
• a Northern Ireland Electoral Identity Card
• a Voter Authority Certificate
• an Anonymous Elector’s Document

You can also use one of the following travel passes as photo ID when you vote:

• an older person’s bus pass
• a disabled person’s bus pass
• an Oyster 60+ card
• a Freedom Pass
• a Scottish National Entitlement Card (NEC)
• a 60 and Over Welsh Concessionary Travel Card
• a Disabled Person’s Welsh Concessionary Travel Card
• a Northern Ireland concessionary travel pass

Please do not lose the right to vote folks! 👌