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Important: You need to be registered to vote for UK elections and referendums. If you have not yet registered please visit our registering to vote page
People who cannot, or do not wish to go to their polling station on election days can apply for postal or, in certain cases, proxy votes.
Postal Votes
You can apply for a postal vote for a particular day, for a specified period, or you can make an application for an "indefinite" period. Everyone who applies must use a separate form. Please do not put two or more peoples details on the same form.
Download the postal vote form to complete by hand
Or
Use the aboutmyvote website to fill in the postal vote form online and print off the completed form
Proxy Voting
Voting by proxy means that someone else will go to your polling station to cast your vote for you. Not everyone can have a proxy vote. You must have a particular reason for wanting one and it is likely that your application will have to supported (signed) by someone else to say that your reason is a valid one.
You can have a proxy vote:-
- if you have a long term illness or you are disabled and cannot get to your polling station
you must get a registered medical practioner, a registered nurse or a Christian Science Practitioner to sign your form. (if you are registered blind or recieve a mobility allowance you do not need to have your application signed).
- if you will be away from home because of your (or your spouses') work. Your employer (or if you are self-employed someone who knows you that is not related to you) must sign your form.
- if you will be away from home because you are a student or you are on an educational course, your application must be supported by someone at the educational institution concerned. If you are on a short business trip or training course you do not need anyone to sign your form, but the vote will only cover elections on one date.
- if you cannot get to your polling station without traveling by sea or air, e.g. you may be away on a foreign holiday. Nobody else's signature is needed. You do not need anyone to sign your form, but the vote will only cover elections on one date.
Download the proxy vote form to complete by hand
Or
Use the aboutmyvote website to fill in the postal vote form online and print off the comepleted form
Absent Vote Signature Refresh
Absent Voters (i.e. those who vote by post) are required to provide a signature and date of birth when they first apply.
When you are sent your postal vote for an election you are required to provide your signature and date of birth on a postal voting statement. These 'personal identifiers' are checked against those you provided on your original postal vote application form, to ensure that they match. This is to prevent someone else from using your vote. If they do not match, your vote cannot be counted. Your personal identifiers are always kept separate from your ballot paper, so no-one knows how you have voted.
An important part of these security measures is providing a fresh specimen signature every 5 years, since people's signatures and circumstances can change over time. The legislation requires the Electoral Registration Officer to carry out the first annual refresh of signatures by 31 January 2012 in order to ensure that the signatures for as many absent voters as possible are refreshed, producing as accurate a record as possible and potentially limiting the number of postal votes that are rejected due to mismatched identifiers.
Therefore, anyone who has had a postal, proxy or postal proxy since January 2007 will be sent a signature refresh form for us to legally request your latest signature.
Please look out for the form being sent to your address in January 2012. Please make sure you sign and return it ASAP as we legally have to send a reminder 3 weeks later to everyone who does not respond and this costs us more money.
If you have a disability which means that you either cannot provide a signature or sign in a consistent and distinctive way, please indicate this on the form and make sure the name and address of your helper is provided.
If you no longer want to vote by post you must respond by ticking the relevant box on the form and return it to us as soon as possible in order to avoid any unncessary reminders.
If you do not return the signature refresh form by the deadline your existing absent vote facility will be cancelled and you will have to vote in person or make a new application.
This Absent Vote signature refresh exercise will be undertaken every January.
For further information please contact Democratic Support Services on 01789 260208 or by email at elections@stratford-dc.gov.uk or by fax on 01789 260244.
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