FAQs
Below are a series of Frequently Asked Questions about elections and voting. These questions have been updated for the July 2024 General Election and have been reviewed by the Electoral Commission.
Voter Registration
The deadline to register to vote is 11.59pm up to 12 days before Election day. You can register to vote here.
You can register to vote via the gov.uk website here, it takes about 5 minutes.
You need to include some basic information, such as your name, address and your National Insurance number.
England - You can register once you turn 16.
Wales and Scotland - You can register once you turn 14.
Northern Ireland - You can register to vote when you are 16, provided you will be 17 by November 30th that year.
If you are not sure if you are registered to vote, then register again. There is no issue with registering twice and this ensures that the electoral office has the most up-to-date information about you.
If you want to check if you are registered somewhere you can contact your Electoral Registration Office here.
You need to register yourself, but if you need help the Electoral Commission has produced an ‘easy-read’ version of the registration form in English and Welsh. People with a disability can get help completing an application, but the person who wants to register to vote has to sign the form.
A step-by-step, easy read guide to registering to vote for people with a learning disability can be found here.
You can still complete the registration form, but your your elections team will then need to verify your identity in a different way, and may contact you separately to do this. If you find your National Insurance number later on, just complete the form again.
UK citizens are sent a letter with their National Insurance number when they turn 16. In the past this also included a National Insurance card.
If you have a job, your National Insurance number should be on your payslip. You might also want to search in your emails or messages for 'NI number' or 'National Insurance number' to see if you have a record of it.
If you don’t have it, you can register without it, but the local electoral office might contact you for some other information to verify your identity.
If you’re under 16, you won’t be asked for your National Insurance number, your identity will be checked another way.
No, you don’t need to provide a photo ID when you are registering to vote.
However, you will need a photo ID to vote at the polling station, so it is a good time to check if you have a valid ID.
If you are concerned about your name and address appearing on the electoral register you need to fill in a form and explain why your safety - or that of someone in your household - would be at risk. Information about registering to vote anonymously can be found here.
No. When you register to vote you will get an option to opt in or out of the 'open register'. The open register is part of the electoral register (the names and addresses of people registered) but is not used for elections.
The open register can be bought by organisations and companies.
The electoral register (sometimes called the ‘electoral roll’) is a list of the names and addresses of everyone who’s registered to vote. Unless you are on the ‘open register’ (see above) your details on the electoral register are not available to companies, although they are available for electoral purposes for election staff and political parties.
You can get on the electoral register by registering to vote. You can also register to vote anonymously here, where your details won’t be shared.
If you do not have a permanent address, you can register by completing an ‘electoral registration form for someone with no fixed or permanent address’. The form, along with further details on registering to vote if you don’t have a permanent address, can be found here.
Students can vote using their college/university address or their home address. It is legal to be registered in two areas, but a criminal offence to vote in both. If students are already registered at their home address, they could use a postal vote or proxy vote if they are not there on election day.
It is legal to be registered at more than one address, but it is a criminal offence to vote at more than one. If you are already registered at an address but won’t be there on election day, you could use a postal vote or proxy vote.
How to Vote and Voter ID
You need to be 18 to vote in UK General Elections and in all other elections in England and Northern Ireland.
In Scotland and Wales you can vote in local elections and in elections for the Holyrood (Scottish Parliament) and the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) at 16.
If you are living in the UK and are a British, Irish or Commonwealth citizen you can vote in all UK elections.
If you are an EU citizen or a qualifying foreign citizen you can vote in some local elections and in elections for Holyrood (Scottish Parliament) and the Senedd (Welsh Parliament).
You can check which elections you can vote in using this tool: canivote.org.uk.
To vote at the polling station in the upcoming UK elections you need to provide a valid photo ID.
This includes:
- A provisional driving licence.
- A passport.
- A PASS proof of age card.
- Biometric immigration document.
- National Identity card issued by EEA state.
Your ID can be expired, as long as the photo still looks like you.
To see the full list of valid IDs please click here.
In Northern Ireland, voters have been required to show ID when voting since 1985, and photo ID since 2003. The new requirement does not change this.
The only acceptable forms of ID in Northern Ireland are:
- A UK, Irish or EU passport.
- A UK, Irish or EEA driving licence.
- Translink SmartPass' for 60+, Senior, Blind Person's, War Disabled and Half-Fare
- An Electoral Identity Card
- A biometric immigration document
The ID can be expired, but staff at the polling station must be satisfied that you are the person in the photograph on the ID.
You can learn more here.
If there’s enough time before the election is due to take place, you can apply for one of the accepted forms of photo ID.
A list can be found here.
You could also apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate from your local council. The Certificate can then be used instead of a photo ID when voting.
You can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate here.
A postal vote is when you vote by sending your vote in the post rather than going to the polling station. You may want to apply for a postal vote if you think you won’t be able to vote in person. You don’t need a reason to apply to vote by post in Great Britain but you do need a reason in Northern Ireland.
You need to apply to vote by post with your local elections team no later than 5pm, 11 working days before polling day – but the sooner the better. You don’t need to show a photo ID to apply to vote by post.
You can apply for a postal vote here.
Please note that if you are voting by post in Northern Ireland, then the postal vote must be posted from within Northern Ireland.
A proxy vote is where someone votes on your behalf. You need to give a reason when applying for a proxy vote, such as being away during an election or being unable to vote in person due to a disability.
You can apply for a proxy vote here.
Nothing, if you don’t vote your preferences will not affect the outcome of the election.
While voting is not compulsory in the UK, it is one of the best ways for you to influence who gets to run the country, so it’s important to vote if you can.
Candidates, Manifestos and Political Parties
Enter your postcode in the box below to see which candidates you can vote for in the upcoming election.
A hustings is an event where all the candidates in a constituency (your local area) answer questions from the public about what they would like to do if they are elected.
You can find your local Hustings events here.
A manifesto is a set of pledges that a political party makes when standing for an election. Although these pledges are not legally binding, they give voters an idea of what the party plans to do if they win power.
As they are released, you can read the manifestos for the upcoming elections here.
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