Just one week to go to the General Election

Published: 26 June 2024

With just a week to go until the General Election, today (26 June) is the last day to apply for a proxy vote and a voter authority certificate to confirm ID at the polling station.

The deadline for applying for both a proxy vote and voter authority certificate is 5pm on Wednesday 26 June. A proxy vote allows a nominated person to vote on behalf of the voter if they cannot get to the polling station on the day.

The General Election takes place on Thursday 4 July, with polling stations in Exeter opening up from 7am to 10pm on the day, Thursday 4 July.

Everyone who votes at a polling station on the day must show photo ID.

There are a number of accepted forms of ID that can be shown at the polling station. This includes:

• Passport
• Driving Licence
• Blue Badge (with a photo)
• Older Person’s Bus Pass funded by the UK Government
• Voter authority certificate

Voters will be able to use expired ID if they are still recognisable from the photo.

For a full list of accepted ID, along with more information about the requirement and details of how to apply for the free ID, go to exeter.gov.uk/voterid

Meanwhile, those who applied for a postal vote in the Exeter constituency – around 11,500 voters – should now have received their paperwork and are being urged to return their vote to the City Council as soon as possible.

The easiest way to do this is by Royal Mail. However, it is possible to return a postal vote to a polling station within the Exeter constituency, on the day of the elections, or by handing it in at the Civic Centre (during opening hours of 9am to 2pm) in the days leading up to 4 July. However, people are being warned not to put their postal votes in the letterbox at the Civic Centre, or they will be rejected.

However new regulations – introduced as part of the Elections Act 2022 - have now come into force regarding this, meaning that those handing them in will be required to complete a form, and hand it over to an authorised person.  If the form is not completed, then the postal vote will be rejected. 

More information is available on the City Council website at exeter.gov.uk/postalvotes/