Voting in the General Election

Your Voice Counts!

Voting in the General Election

There will be General Election on Thursday December 12^th 2019. This will decide who the next Government will be.

The political party with the most votes will win and then make choices for everyone in the country, whether they voted or not.

You can vote if:

You will be 18 or over on the day of the election.

You are a British, Irish or qualifying Commonwealth citizen.

You are resident at an address in the UK

You need to be registered to vote to have your say in the election. If you have moved house recently, you may not be registered.

If you are not registered to vote already, you must get registered by Tuesday 26 November to vote in the General Election.

You can register to vote online at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote You will need your national insurance number.

If you live in Manchester and need support to fill in the registration form, you can contact the Electoral Services Unit on 0161 234 1212 or email them at esu@manchester.gov.uk.

They can also tell you about the support and assistance available for voting.

Disabled people’s voting rights and access to polling stations

Local authorities have to make sure that disabled voters are not at a disadvantage on polling day. They must give you:

1. Information at the polling station about what assistance is available
2. The right to request assistance to mark the ballot paper
3. A tactile voting device so that you can vote in secret – if required
4. A large-print version of the ballot paper for reference – if required
5. Assistance if you are unable to gain access to the polling station

On the day, if the polling station is not accessible you can ask the Presiding Officer to take the ballot paper to you. If there are any other barriers you should contact your local authority first as they are responsible for making sure the polling stations are accessible.

There are two other ways to vote if you can’t be there to vote in person on the day of an election – either a postal vote or a proxy vote. To apply for a postal or proxy vote you must already be registered to vote.

A proxy vote means someone can vote on your behalf. This can happen if you have a medical or impairment-related reason for not voting in person. Anyone can act as your proxy as long as they are registered to vote and allowed to vote in the same election.

Anyone registered to vote in an election can apply for a postal vote. You don’t need to give a reason.

The application forms for both of these can be found by searching on the gov.uk website, or you can contact your local Electoral Services Unit

More information on General Elections and about what happens after them is on the www.parliament.uk website

Easy read information about politics and voting is on the Every Vote Counts website at www.everyvotecounts.org.uk