What type of identification is acceptable at the polling station?

How do I know which polling station I’m voting at?
It will be stated on your polling card.

What if I haven’t received a polling card?

You can still vote without a polling card if you are on the register of electors and have valid I.D. If you need to find out where you are voting and haven’t received a polling card, ring your local authority (City or County Council) who should have copies of the boundaries.

What if I lose my polling card?

You can still vote without a polling card if you are on the register of electors and have valid I.D.

What if I require assistance at the polling station?

Assistance in voting at the polling station may be provided by a companion or the presiding officer. Voting compartments are usually designed to accommodate voters standing up to mark their ballot papers on ledges at average waist height. As a result, these compartments may not be suitable for older people and people with disabilities. Returning officers must make available at polling stations a table and chair at which electors can vote if they find that more convenient.

If you have a visual impairment or physical disability that prevents you from voting without assistance, you can have the ballot paper marked for you by a companion. To act as a companion, a person must be at least 16-years-old, must be neither a candidate nor an agent of a candidate and may not help more than two electors at an election. The presiding officer must not allow a companion to assist an elector unless he/she is satisfied that the companion fulfils these conditions. If a person is not eligible to act as a companion, you can have another person act as companion or you can ask to be assisted by the presiding officer.

The procedure for voting by a companion is simple. The companion goes with you to a voting compartment and marks the ballot paper in accordance with your wishes. The companion then places the marked ballot paper in the ballot box.

You can be assisted by the presiding officer if you have a reading or writing disability that prevents you from voting without help or if you have a visual impairment or physical disability but do not wish to be assisted by a companion.

Under this procedure, the presiding officer and the personation agents go with you to a part of the polling station where a conversation in normal tones cannot be overheard. If necessary, the presiding officer will suspend entry to the polling station and have the station cleared to ensure that no other person can overhear how you vote. The presence of the personation agents ensures and confirms that the presiding officer complies with your instructions. It is a protection for you and for the presiding officer. As with all other people involved in a poll, there is a statutory obligation on personation agents to maintain the secrecy of the ballot.

The presiding officer will ask which candidates you wish to vote for and will mark the ballot paper in accordance with your instructions. If necessary, the presiding officer will read out the particulars on the ballot paper in relation to each candidate and ask which candidate you wish to give your first preference vote. He/she will repeat the procedure for your second preference vote and so on. When the ballot paper has been marked in accordance with your instructions, the presiding officer will put it in the ballot box.

The law specifically forbids a presiding officer from acting on any written instructions received from a voter. The reason for this is that the written instructions may not represent the voter's real wishes - someone else may have written them.

If you want to be assisted in voting by the presiding officer, you should, if possible, go to the polling station well before it closes at night. Assisting an elector can take time and the law, therefore, allows a presiding officer to refuse a request for assistance during the last two hours of voting (i.e., the busiest time) if helping one elector would delay or obstruct others. Presiding officers are reluctant to use this power and sensible co-operation from you should make its use unnecessary. This restriction does not apply to companion voting, i.e., you can be helped to vote by a companion at any time during polling hours.

 What will the ballot paper look like?

How do I fill it in?

You vote for candidates in order of preference. You mark the ballot paper by putting 1 opposite the name of your first choice candidate and, if you wish, 2 opposite the name of your second choice, 3 beside your third choice, and so on.

What you are saying is: “I want to vote for candidate A. If the situation arises where A does not need my vote because he/she has been elected or excluded from the count, I want my vote to go to candidate B.” And so on.

This system gives you a wide degree of choice. You can choose between candidates of different parties or non-party candidates and you can order your preferences, as you wish.

What happens if I make a mistake on the ballot paper?

If you are unsure how to fill in the ballot paper, ask for assistance as it is highly unlikely you will be allowed another ballot paper if you make a mistake on the first. If you take your time and carefully read the instructions on the ballot paper you should be fine.