Register to vote

How do I register to vote?

Each person must register to vote individually, providing their National Insurance number and date of birth. This will enable applications to be verified before they are added to the register.

If you have recently changed your address or would like to be added to the electoral register at your property, you can register to vote any time of the year online at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote - it's free, quick and easy. You just need your National Insurance number. It's on pay slips, letters about benefits, tax returns, and other official correspondence. Find out what to do if you can't find your National Insurance number.

How long does it take?

It usually takes around a month from when you register to get onto the electoral registration. The 2024/25 deadlines are:

• Friday 9 May 2025 to go onto the Electoral Register on Monday 2 June 2025
• Monday 9 June 2025 to go onto the Electoral Register on Tuesday 1 July 2025
• Thursday 10 July 2025 to go onto the Electoral Register on Friday 1 August 2025
• Friday 8 August 2025 to go onto the Electoral Register on Monday 1 September 2025
• Tuesday 9 September 2025 to go onto the Electoral Register on Wednesday 1 October 2025
• Friday 10 October 2025 to go onto the Electoral Register on Monday 3 November 2025

Who can register to vote?

• Anyone aged 16 or over but you cannot vote until you are 18
• Those who normally live in your household but are away for the time being - for example on holiday, as students, or in hospital (including voluntary patients in psychiatric hospitals)
• Anyone who is away working, unless they are away for more than six months
• Any other residents, lodgers or guests (but not short-stay visitors) in your household, whether this is a private address, a hostel or a club
• British citizens living abroad can be registered if they have been previously registered or previously resident in the UK
• Members of the Armed Forces, Crown Servants, etc. and their partners must register annually, but can do so as 'Service' etc., voters or as ordinary voters
• British Citizens, or 
• Irish, qualifying Commonwealth, or qualifying European Citizen or an EU Citizen with retain rights to live in the UK.

British citizens, Irish citizens and citizens of Commonwealth countries (including Cyprus and Malta) can vote at all elections.

Citizens of qualifying EU countries or EU citizens with retained rights can vote in local government elections but cannot vote in UK Parliamentary elections. 

Overseas Electors

British citizens (which includes eligible Irish citizens and citizens of the Crown Dependencies) may register as overseas electors if they are now living abroad, providing they are:

• a person who was previously registered to vote in the UK, either before they left the UK or as an overseas elector - known as the previously registered condition
• a person who was previously resident in the UK (including those who left the UK before they were old enough to register to vote) - known as the previously resident condition

Applicants must apply to register as an overseas elector in respect of the address where they were last registered to vote in the UK or, if they have never been registered, the last address at which they were resident in the UK.

For further information please contact Electoral Services using the contact details below.

Students

Students can register at their home address and their university address. It is an offence to vote more than once in a national election, but you can vote in local elections at both addresses.

Anonymous registration

Anonymous registration is available to people whose safety would be at risk if their name or address were listed on the electoral register. Other persons in the same household also qualify to register as anonymous electors and may also apply for anonymous registration if they wish.

For further information or to register please contact Electoral Services using the contact details below.

Homeless or have no fixed address

If you are homeless, rough sleeping or in temporary accommodation you can still register to vote. You can arrange to vote in a polling station close to where you are living or where you spend time during the day.

For further information or to register please contact Electoral Services using the contact details below.

If you are looking for more information, advice for the following people is available on the Electoral Commission website - a patient in a mental health hospital, homeless, a merchant seaman, part of the gypsy or travelling community, living on a boat or other moveable residence and a person remanded in custody.