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1- Who is eligible to vote?
British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens aged 18 and over can vote in all elections in the UK. Other European Union citizens can vote in local elections and can apply to vote in European Parliamentary elections in the UK. It's not compulsory to vote but it is compulsory to register.
2- How Can I Register to Vote?
We send a registration form to every household in the borough at the end of August each year. This form shows everybody who's already registered to vote at the property. You must check these details and make any changes necessary then return the form to us in a pre-paid envelope which we send with the form. If the details on the form are all correct you can confirm this to us by calling a freephone number instead of signing and returning the form. This freephone number operates from the start of September to the end of November.
Every household must return their form or ring the freephone number, even if nobody is eligible to vote at the address. We send a reminder if we don't receive a response by the end of September.
We publish the new Register of Electors on 1st December each year.
We publish updates to the Register of Electors every month from January through to September. If you have just moved home, or if you didn't put your name on the annual household registration form, you can fill in an individual "rolling registration" form and send it to us. Each person must complete a separate form.
Depending on when we receive your form, it can take between 3 and 7 weeks your name appears on the Register of Electors after we receive it. The deadline for registering to vote at an election is 11 working days before the election.
|Download an individual "Rolling Registration" Form
3- Registering for Council Tax
The Electoral and Council Tax registers are entirely separate. The information included on each is different and they are compiled separately. When you register for Council Tax you are not automatically registered to vote. |Find out more about Council Tax online.
4- I live abroad. Can I still register to vote?
If you are a British Citizen living abroad you can register to vote in UK parliamentary elections for up to 15 years from the time you were last registered to vote in the UK. Please call Electoral Services on (+) 44 - 1372 - 474182/3 or e-mail |electoral@elmbridge.gov.uk for details.
If you are working for the British government, British Council or British armed forces overseas you can register to vote in all UK elections. Please call Electoral Services on (+) 44 - 1372 - 474182/3 or e-mail |electoral@elmbridge.gov.uk for details.