A few key pieces of information for polling day:
- Polling stations are open between 7am and 10pm today. No votes can be cast after 10pm; it’s not like the shops where being in the queue at closing time is enough.
- You don’t need your polling card to vote.
- You have to vote at your local polling station, which is indicated on the card. If you’ve lost your card and aren’t sure where to vote, you can contact your local council.
- Postal ballots can be handed in at polling stations today. Make sure all the paperwork is completed and put inside the (outer) sealed envelope. It’s best if you return this to a polling station yourself, but if you can’t make it you can ask someone else you trust to take the sealed envelope to a polling station for you.
- In some places there are also local/Mayor elections being held, so you may be given more than one ballot paper. If you do, check the voting instructions carefully as they may vary between the ballot papers. For example, in many areas you can vote for up to three local councillors but only one MP.
- If a last minute medical emergency prevents you going to vote, you have until 5pm today to apply for an emergency proxy so that someone else can vote on your behalf. Contact your local council ASAP to arrange this.
- EU citizens can vote in local elections, if they are being held in your area, even though they can’t vote in the general election.
Finally, one point I’ve never heard anyone raise but really, thinking about it, lots of people should ask:
- It’s safe to use the pencils in the voting booths: they are not ordinary pencils, but special indelible pencils – so don’t worry, no-one can erase and alter your vote if use the pencil.
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4 Comments
If you don’t already know this you shouldn’t be voting.
I couldn’t disagree more with Richard. Everyone should be able to vote without fearing looking like a fool. On the other hand, timid non-voters are unlikely to be reading LibDem Voice on polling day.
And I didn’t know why the precise type of pencil is used at all polling stations, so thank you, Mark!
Mark’s point about the polling card is true. I’ve certainly been told in the past by both Tory and Labour supporters at the poliing station that I need it to vote; when I challenged them, the response was usually along the line of “well that’s what I’ve been told by our central office.”
Incidentally, another one is that if you’re asked for your polling number, you don’t have to give it. If you don’t know it, just say so, or give your address – the benefit is that you won’t be disturbed at night!
Ah, but how do you identify the indelible pencils so that you can tell whether they’ve been swapped out by the conspiracy?