Postal Vote

On Thursday 2nd May, there is a county-wide election for Police and Crime Commissioner and a number of local elections happening too. 

Applications for postal voting must be submitted by 5pm on Wednesday 17th April. Most councils will accept scanned and emailed forms so there is still time to submit your application. Please visit your local council's page via the following links for more information:

How it works

Your council will send postal voting forms to all registered postal voters in the two weeks before polling day.

If you have not received your postal vote five days before an election, you will need to contact your council's Elections team.

Your postal voting pack will contain your ballot paper(s) and a 'Postal Voter’s Statement'.

Complete the form as instructed and return it, in the envelope provided, before 10pm on polling day. Postal votes received after this time cannot be accepted.

If you don’t return it by post, you can hand in your completed and sealed postal vote pack at our elections office or at a polling station in your area.

Voting in an election

If you have not received your postal voting pack five days before an election, you will need to contact your local council. They will be able to confirm if you have been set up for a postal vote and whether they can send you a replacement.

If you are set up to vote by post, you are unable to be issued a ballot paper at the polling station. Postal votes can only be re-issued up to 5pm on the day of an election.

You must let your council know in advance if you have not received your postal vote.

Cancelling a postal vote

If you are already set up with a postal vote and you would like to change this to vote at the polling station or vote by proxy instead, then you must cancel your postal vote by the postal vote deadline.

You can only cancel a postal vote by letting your council know in writing. 

Overseas voters

If you are living overseas and the postal service is unreliable or post takes a long time to reach you, then you can apply for a proxy vote instead.

How to complete a postal vote

If, when you have received your postal voting pack, you are unsure what to do, check out this video which gives simple step-by-step instructions.