Important information about postal votes

Elections and voting may be the last things on your mind right now, but for those voters who have a postal vote, there has been a very important change that you need to be aware of and may require you to take action.

Due to a change in national legislation (the Elections Act), a sizeable majority of those people in our district who currently have a postal vote must now reapply for it.

This affects everyone who applied for a postal vote up until 30 January 2024 – you will all need to reapply.

Only by reapplying will these people be able to vote by post in future elections.

The quickest way to reapply is online via the government website.

An alternative option is to download and print off an application form (using the same link as above), which can be completed and sent to us.

People will need their National Insurance number and will also have to provide a photo of their handwritten signature in black ink on plain white paper.

To be clear, those who do not reapply will have their postal vote cancelled and they will need to vote in person at a polling station at future elections.

We have started sending out emails to our registered postal voters to let them know what is happening and the action they need to take.

A quick response now instead of waiting for an election to be called means people will be in the first batch of postal votes sent out when the time comes, giving them the maximum amount of time to return it.

And if everyone leaves it until the last minute, it will be challenging for us to process and despatch a large volume of applications, which could lead to delays in people receiving them.

The only people who need do nothing are those who applied for a postal vote from 31 January 2024 onwards.

Published: 10 July 2025