The Elections Act 2022 was granted Royal Assent and passed into law on 28 April 2022. Further detail will be covered in secondary legislation. The new legislation will include absent voting rules, EU citizens' voting rights, accessibility, voter identification and 'votes for life' for overseas electors.
The Elections Act will be implemented in stages.
The first stage of the Act, which includes voter photo identification for in-person voting, came into effect for the Thursday 4 May 2023 election.
Following this, new absent voting rules were introduced on 31 October 2023 and "votes for life" for overseas electors was implemented on 16 January 2024.
The final stage of the Act requires local councils to review their registered EU citizens and determine their eligibility to remain registered. Local authorities will have until 31 January 2025 to conclude their review.
Electors voting at polling stations will need to show photographic identification before being issued a ballot paper.
The Elections Act sets out in Schedule 1 the list of photographic identification documents that will be accepted. This list, for elections in England, is replicated below. The Act also makes provision for the list to be amended in future if necessary.
Accepted documents:
Please note expired ID will be accepted provided the photo is still a good likeness to the elector.
For more information, please see our Voter ID page.
If an elector cannot provide photographic ID then they can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate (Voter Cert). Electors can apply for this certificate online or by paper.
This is a certificate that will act as your ID to allow you to vote in polling stations. If you have one of the accepted IDs then you do not need to apply. The certificate is free and you will not be charged for applying. The certificate will be for use solely for the purpose of voting and is not intended as either an identity card or a proof of age card.
You can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate online. For a paper form, to be sent in the post or collected at our offices, please contact electoral.services@basingstoke.gov.uk
For more information, please visit our Voter ID webpage.
On 16 January 2024, the Elections Act 2022 removed the 15 year limit for registering as an overseas elector. Any British citizen living overseas that was previously registered or previously resident in the UK can register to vote. You can register online on the GOV.UK website.
If you were never registered, you may be required to provide proof of your residence at the UK address. The online application form will state which information you are required to provide, based on your circumstances.
Overseas electors can vote at their assigned UK polling station -based on their qualifying address, by post or by nominating a proxy to vote on their behalf. You can select your preferred method of voting when registering.
The Elections Act 2022 has removed the annual renewal system for overseas electors. Instead of renewing on a yearly basis from your application date, overseas electors will renew on the third 1 November since their registration date.
If you are an existing overseas elector, you will move from the previous annual renewal to the extended renewal process on your next renewal date.
The Elections Act has made significant changes to postal and proxy voting.
Postal and Proxy Application Forms: From 31 October 2023, you must supply a national insurance number when applying to vote by post or proxy. A new online application system has also been introduced. You can apply for a postal vote on the GOV.UK website and you can apply for a proxy vote on the GOV.UK website.
Postal vote applications will be valid for a maximum of three years. Proxy applications are valid for one election date only, unless you meet the criteria for an extended proxy vote.
An individual can act as a proxy for two people. If you vote on behalf of UK voters who live overseas, you can act as a proxy for up to four people but only two of those can live in the UK. It is an offence to act as a proxy for more than the legal limit.
For more information about voting by post or proxy, please visit our Postal and proxy voting page.
Returning postal ballot packs: Under the Elections Act 2022, postal voters will be required to complete a Postal Vote Return Form if handing their postal vote into the Civic Offices or to their polling station by hand. You do not need to complete this form if you are returning your postal ballot pack by post.
Handing in postal ballot packs: If you decide to hand in your completed postal ballot pack to the Civic Offices or the polling station then you need to be aware of the restrictions that apply.
The Postal Vote Return Form (PVR) will be completed by yourself and a member of staff when you hand in your postal ballot pack. If you leave your postal ballot at the Civic Offices or at a polling station, without completing the relevant form, then we must reject your vote. Please post your completed postal ballot pack to us or speak with a member of staff if you decide to hand it in. It is important you complete the form.
Candidates, Campaigners and Political Parties: It is an offence for a political campaigner to handle postal votes of individuals – excluding their own postal vote or the postal vote of a close relative or someone whom they provide regular care for. The postal votes will be rejected.
A political campaigner is defined within the legislation as a person who is:
(a) a candidate at the election;
(b) an election agent of a candidate at the election;
(c) a sub-agent of an election agent at the election;
(d) employed or engaged by a person who is a candidate at the election for the purposes of that person’s activities as a candidate;
(e) a member of a registered political party who carries out an activity designed to promote a particular outcome at the election;
(f) employed or engaged by a registered political party in connection with the party’s political activities;
(g) employed or engaged by a person listed in (a) to (f) above, to carry out an activity designed to promote a particular outcome at the election;
(h) employed or engaged by a person within paragraph (g) to carry out an activity designed to promote a particular outcome at the election.
If you are a candidate or campaigner, we would strongly advise you contact us to ensure you understand the new rules regarding postal vote handling.
From 7 May 2024, EU electors will only be able to vote at local and Police and Crime Commissioner elections if they are:
Qualifying EU Citizen:
A person is a qualifying EU citizen if they:
OR
EU Citizen with retained rights:
A person is an EU citizen with retained rights if they:
Eligibility Confirmation Review (ECR) Process
Local authorities must conduct an Eligibility Confirmation Review (ECR) to determine the eligibility to remain registered for any EU citizen on their electoral register who applied prior to 7 May 2024. Any EU citizen that has registered after 7 May 2024, will have completed a new version of the registration application which determined the eligibility to be registered by confirming their historical residency.
Part 1 of the Review: Confirming if you are a qualifying EU Citizen or have retained rights
The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) will conduct a review to see if existing EU electors are eligible to remain registered under the new criteria.
The first stage of this is to do a series of data matching exercises against the qualifying EU citizen criteria and the EU retained rights criteria.
In October 2024, we reviewed all EU citizens on the electoral register, who registered prior to 7 May 2024. For a majority of electors, we were able to verify that they had been registered prior to the date the UK left the EU or they did not need to supply additional information as they were a qualifying EU elector.
If we have confirmed your eligibility to remain registered, you will receive a letter. The letter will reference the “Confirmation of your continued registration to vote”. This means we have determined that you are eligible to remain registered and you do not need to do anything further.
Part 2 of the Review: Requesting additional information if necessary
In some cases, we may not be able to verify your registration entitlement. For example, you may have been resident in the UK prior to 31 December 2020 but you may not have been registered on our electoral register.
If your record cannot be verified, we will conduct a correspondence-based review. We will write out to you to ask you to confirm if you were legally resident in the UK since before the UK left the EU on 31 December 2020.
Anyone who has consented to receiving electoral registration updates by email will receive this request by email from electoral.services@basingstoke.gov.uk. If you have not consented to us using your email address, then you will receive a letter in the past.
You will need to respond to confirm your eligibility to remain registered.
We will provide a form to complete but you can respond online on the GOV.UK website
Electors will receive up to three review notices including a personal contact (a telephone call or personal visit by an Electoral Services canvasser.) If no response is received in this time, the Electoral Registration Officer will determine they are ineligible to remain registered and their record will be removed from the electoral register.
Local authorities will have until 31 January 2025 to conclude their review.
The new EU candidacy rights are now in effect for all elections with a local election franchise – local and Police and Crime Commissioner elections. The nomination papers have been updated to take the new EU voting and candidacy rights into consideration.
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