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Registering to vote in the UK and voting in elections

If you're a British, Irish or qualifying Commonwealth citizen, resident in the UK, you can register to vote. You'll also need to show photo ID when you vote.

Registering to vote means your name is added to the electoral register.

You can find out if you are eligible to vote by reading the UK Government’s guide to elections in the UK.

You will need to register to vote again if you have changed your name, address or nationality since you last registered. It's important that you register, as universities are no longer able to automatically add students to the electoral register.

If you are eligible to register to vote and you receive a request to register, you can be fined £80 if you do not register to vote. Once you have registered to vote, you are not required to take part in an election.

You can read a guide to UK elections from the UK government.

Registering to vote

You can read how to register to vote in the UK, including the minimum age and where you must live.

You can register even if you don't have a National Insurance number. And you can register anonymously if you're concerned about safety.

Once you've registered you'll be added to the electoral register. If you're a student with a different term time and home address, you can register at two addresses, but you can only vote once in an election.

Once a year the Electoral Registration Office contacts every address to check that the details on the electoral register are correct. You may also be contacted when you move to a new address, reminding you to register. If you don't register to vote when you're asked to, you could be fined.

Photo ID for elections

As well as being on the electoral register, you also need to take proof of your identity to get a ballot paper at a polling station.

The need for photo ID is a fairly new requirement, introduced by the UK Government’s Elections Act on 4 May 2023. Find out about the photo ID needed to vote and the accepted forms of ID.

If you don't have accepted photo ID, you can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate.

Voting by post

Find out how to vote by post. For each election, you will be told by your local Electoral Registration Office of the deadline for registering to vote by post.

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