Vote by post

If you cannot get to your local polling station on the day of an election you can vote by post.

Have you received an email or letter asking you to reapply?

On 31 October 2023, new legislation meant postal vote applications were only valid for a maximum period of 3 years. You then have to reapply. Our Elections team will write to you about this before your period expires.

Anyone whose name appears on the register of electors can apply to vote by post. No special qualifications or requirements are necessary. If you want to vote by post at any or all elections, you can apply to do so.

 Apply for a postal vote on GOV.UK

GOV.UK – Apply for a postal vote

You can apply for a postal vote:

  • For one election
  • For a set period of time
  • For a 3-year maximum period

If you apply for a postal vote about 6 weeks before the poll, the actual postal ballot paper will not be posted to you until about 10 days before the poll. If you are going on holiday, you may want to check with us the actual despatch dates before applying.

There will no longer be an option to permanently hold a postal vote. After a maximum period of 3 years voters will need to reapply for a postal vote.

If you elect to vote by post, you cannot then go in person to the polling station to vote. You can, however, hand your postal vote into your polling station or Epping District Council offices if you have not posted it back to us. However, you must complete a postal vote handling form giving your name and address, whether this is at the council offices or your polling station. Without this, your ballot paper will be invalid and will be rejected.

There is also a limit of 5 postal vote packs plus the electors’ own that can be returned by hand. Political campaigners are also banned from handling postal votes, this includes candidates and their agents. Campaigners can only handle postal votes for close family members. This must be either the polling station at which you would otherwise vote or a polling station within the same electoral area. A maximum of 6 postal votes can be delivered by one person.

Please remember:

  • If you move house your postal vote will cease when you are removed from the register at the address at which you were living when the postal vote was granted. You will need to apply for a new one when re-registering at a new address even if this continues to be within the district
  • If you change your name you will need to reapply in your new name as we hold a signature and if this does not match your postal vote may be rejected

After you have applied

We will let you know if your postal vote application has been successful, although there may not always be enough time to do this just before an election.

We will send your postal voting papers to you between 4 and 2 weeks before election day. The sooner you apply the better.

How to vote by post

Your postal vote must reach us by 10pm on election day.

You can post your postal vote using the envelope provided or hand it in at your polling station on election day or drop it into our Council Offices in Epping during normal office hours. You will need to hand this to a member of staff who will ask you to complete a postal vote handling form. Polling staff will ask you to complete the same form if you return your pack to any polling station. Unfortunately, without this form being completed, your postal vote will be rejected.

One-off postal voting

Provided you are registered, you can apply for a postal vote for a specific election by using the GOV.UK – Voting by post website. Applications can be made at any time of the year up to 5pm, 11 working days before the poll and you should apply as soon as you know you cannot get to the polling station on polling day. We will acknowledge that we have set up your postal voting request.

Postal voting for a set period

You can arrange to vote by post for a set period, eg. a year.

For example, university students can apply for a postal vote so they can vote in their home area. You will then automatically be able to vote by post at any election during this set period.

Postal votes for students

If you’re a student, you can register to vote at both your home address and your term-time address. You can only vote once for the same election and you cannot vote twice for any poll, like a general election.

If you request a postal vote you need to make sure it goes to where you want it, either to your home address or your university address.

When you receive your poll card, you must check the address it says your postal ballot paper will be sent to. If it is a different term and you have moved to a different address, tell us immediately.

You can only vote once in a national poll, such as a general election. At local elections, if your home and university addresses are in 2 different local authority areas, you can vote in in both areas. This is because they are separate elections.

Anti-fraud measures

Because of concerns about fraudulent practices related to postal voting in some areas at previous elections, the government introduced some new requirements in the Electoral Administration Act 2006.

It is, therefore, necessary, when applying for a postal vote, to provide your date of birth and a specimen signature, known as personal identifiers. If you are unable to supply a signature, contact electoral services at the council for further advice.

You will be required to provide these again when sending in your postal vote. The 2 sets of identifiers will be compared when the postal votes are opened to ensure that they match. If they don’t, the returning officer will reject the vote.

Contact the elections team

For help with postal votes contact the elections team:

More information