If you’ve previously voted by post, January 31st is a date you should have circled in your diary, because that is the deadline for reapplying for a postal vote for May’s local council elections.
The rules have changed around residents who are eligible to vote by post. Whereas previously a postal vote could last indefinitely, aside from providing an updated signature every five years, now people must reapply for a postal vote every three years.
It’s been no small task for the Council’s electoral services team to try to alert every one of Reading’s existing 18,000 postal voters of this change. Over the past year they have been regularly writing reminder letters or emails to postal voters to tell them about the change. Good progress has been made too with nearly two-thirds of that total number of postal voters successfully reapplying. But as of last week, around 6,500 postal voters had yet to reapply, which is a concern.
People choose to vote by post for a reason, and primarily it is the speed and ease of the process. Rather than making time to head to your local polling station in person on polling day an envelope is posted through your door a few weeks or days in advance and all you have to do is select our chosen candidate and follow the instructions to return your vote by post. The concern is that where these residents do not reapply by 31 January, they will automatically lose their postal vote leaving them with no option than to vote in person on the day.
So, if you have voted by post previously, and your current postal vote application was made before 30 January 2024, please pay close attention to your email inboxes this week as the Council will be sending final reminders to all of those residents who have yet to reapply.
You don’t need to wait for that email, or dig out a previous one, to reapply.
The quickest and simplest way for electors to reapply is online at www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote. If you are unable make an online application, contact the elections team, and ask for a form to be posted to you. You can phone them on 0118 937 3717 or email elections@reading.gov.uk. All you need to reapply is your date of birth, NI number, a signature, and a suitable form of ID. It’s really that straightforward.
And if you no longer want to vote by post, please contact the team in the same way to let them know, so they can cross you off their list.
Unless a local election coincides with a General Election, which increases the turnout figure significantly, turnout figures in Reading have hovered anywhere between 32% and 35% over the last few years. Local democracy is hugely important, and it goes without saying that we would all like that figure to be higher, rather than go in the opposite direction because people did not realise the rules on postal votes had changed.
If you have any questions or unsure about your postal vote, please don’t hesitate to contact theElectoral Services 0118 937 3717 or email elections@reading.gov.uk. Just make sure you do it before 31 January!
