Voting as a student in May elections

Published: 8 February 2024

Students living away from home in Exeter may be able to vote in this May’s city elections as well as in their home town.

Elections for the City Council and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly take place on Thursday 2 May, with polling stations open across the city from 7am to 10pm.

Those students eligible to vote and on the electoral register can vote in Exeter – if that is where they are living as part of their studies – as well as in their home town.

However this is only allowed for local council elections and police and crime commissioner elections, where they are living in a different council or police force area.

For UK Parliament elections, students need to choose one address and vote only in that area.

Those not on the electoral register can register to vote by visiting the Electoral Commission website at https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/register-vote-and-update-your-details .It only takes five minutes and people will need their National Insurance number. Those who can’t register online can download a paper form.

Advice for students in Exeter is to contact the City Council’s elections team to see if they are registered to vote.

Those not able to make it to the polling station on the day can apply for a postal vote or a proxy vote (when someone votes on their behalf).

Registering for a postal or proxy vote is easy and can be done online on the City Council website at exeter.gov.uk/postalvotes

When it comes to election day, voters will need to show photo ID to vote at a polling station. 

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

• Passports
• Driving Licence
• Blue Badge
• Older Person’s Bus Pass funded by the UK Government

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