How postal voting works
Postal votes are sent to all registered postal voters in the two weeks before polling day. We can’t send postal votes out earlier than this, so we advise all postal voters to take into consideration their availability to vote before planning any holidays.
Your postal vote will contain your ballot paper(s) and a ‘Postal Voter’s Statement’, on which you’ll need to provide your date of birth and signature. These details are checked against those provided on your application form, so your postal vote will not be counted if they’re missing or don’t match.
Your postal vote must be completed and returned to us, in the first class envelope provided, before 10pm on polling day. Any postal votes received after this time can’t be accepted.
Postal votes can be returned in the post, handed in person at the elections office, or handed in at a polling station (providing it is a polling station within your own electoral area, usually within your ward). From May 2024 there will be restrictions on how many postal votes you can hand in in person, and you will be required to complete a form when you do so.
Once your postal vote has been received it will be processed and the personal identifiers checked, before the ballot paper is secured and taken to be included in the count. Your ‘Postal Voter’s Statement’ and ballot paper are handled separately to make your vote anonymous.
Although the postal votes are opened and checked, the ballot papers are handled face down until the start of count following the close of poll, so that it’s not possible to see how the votes have been cast.
You can apply to have a postal vote for:
- one election day only
- for a period of time (for example if you will be working away for a period of time)
- for a period of up to 3 years.
If you want a postal vote long term, you will need to reapply for your postal vote no later than the third 31 January after it was granted. This reapplication process will begin in January 2026, and the Elections Office will send correspondence out to electors to advise them if their postal vote is coming up for re-application.
Page last updated: 31 October 2023
