Registering to vote
To vote in an election you’ll need to be registered.
You can register to vote if you are:
- 18 years of age or over on polling day
- a British citizen, a qualifying Commonwealth citizen, or a citizen of the European Union
- resident in the UK or a UK citizen living abroad who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years
- not subject to any legal incapacity to vote
To vote in a general election you must:
- be registered to vote
- be 18 or over on polling day
- be a British, Irish or qualifying Commonwealth citizen
- be resident at an address in the UK (or a British citizen living abroad who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years)
- not be legally excluded from voting
Registering to vote will take about five minutes. If you’re not sure whether you’ve already registered you can find out by contacting your local authority.
Register to vote on the government website. If you know it, make sure you have your national insurance number ready as you'll be asked for this when you register.
Photo identification on the day
You’ll need to take photo identification to vote. Find out more about photo ID and what to do if you need photo ID.
The NUS (National Union of Students) has information about how to get free photo ID in case you haven’t got any of the identification you will need. The deadline to apply is the 17 of April.
Voting in Leeds
If you’re not sure where you’ll be on the day but you want to vote in the election in Leeds you can register for a proxy vote, where someone else votes on your behalf.
You can also register to vote by post.
You can be registered to vote at both your home and term-time address, as long as the addresses are not in the same constituency. You can only vote once in the general election though.