You can register to vote even if you don’t have a permanent address. At the moment you don’t need ID to vote, you just need National Insurance Number.
You can register anonymously if you are concerned for your own safety.
Do it anytime during the year – don’t wait until an election is called. It can take up to 7 weeks to process your registration.
You only have to register again if you change address, name or nationality.
Registration takes 5 minutes online.
If you can’t get to a polling station on Election Day you can apply to vote by post. You can also ask to vote by ‘proxy’ which means someone else goes to the polling station for you.
Get others to register to vote: share on social media!
Even if you didn’t vote last time you can still lobby your MP to get your voice heard.
Find out which MP’s are sitting on different All Party Parliamentary Groups – you can see what issues they are dealing with – and get in touch with them to make sue your voice is heard.
Don’t rely on online petitions to get your voice heard. Write to the MP directly or go to your MP’s weekly surgery.
In local elections 2018 the government trialled banning people who didn’t have ID from voting, despite the fact electoral fraud in the UK is incredibly rare.
There’s evidence that strict voter ID rules in the USA disproportionately disadvantage already marginalised groups. Why? Many citizens who can’t afford to go on foreign holidays don’t have passports, and those that can’t drive don’t have driving licenses.
In 2018, 350 people were denied the right to vote and if mandatory voter ID is rolled out wider it could potentially prevent thousands of people from exercising their democratic right.
