A UK Parliamentary General Election will take place on Thursday 12 December 2019. To be able to vote you will need to have registered by Tuesday 26 November.
The easiest way to register is online by completing the form on the gov.uk website. It’s simple to do and should only take around five minutes. You will need your National Insurance number, so make sure you have that to hand.
If you don’t know your National Insurance number you can find advice about how to get it here.
Can I register twice – at home and at university?
Students are able to register to vote at both their home and term-time addresses, so if you have moved for university, it is important you register to vote at your university address as well as your home address if they are in different local authorities.
You can only vote in one local authority area in a general election; you can choose whether you want to vote in your home local authority or your university local authority. If you want to vote in person, make sure you will be able to get to your polling station, whether that is near your home or near your term-time address.
If you’re not able to make it to the polling station on the day, you can apply for a postal vote (you must apply by 26 November) or a proxy vote (you must apply by 4 December).
If you have moved to a new address for this academic year, you will also need to re-register at your new term-time address.
Am I eligible to vote in a General Election?
To vote in a General Election you must:
- be registered to vote
- be 18 or over on the day of the election
- 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
More information is available here.
Please note, if you hold EU citizenship (other than the UK, Republic of Ireland, Malta and Cyprus), you can vote in all elections that take place, apart from elections to the UK Parliament (Westminster). It is still worth registering to vote for future elections, but you won’t be able to vote in the General Election on 12 December.
For more information, please visit the Your Vote Matters website.