Voter ID requirement - Borough and Parish elections 2023

Acceptable forms of photographic identification include: 

• a UK passport
• a driving licence issued by the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands
• a UK or Northern Ireland photocard driving licence (full or provisional)
• a passport issued by the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or a Commonwealth country
• a PASS card (National Proof of Age Standards Scheme)
• a Blue Badge
• a biometric residence permit (BRP)
• a Defence Identity Card (MOD form 90)
• a national identity card issued by the EU, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein
• a Northern Ireland Electoral Identity Card
• a Voter Authority Certificate
• an Anonymous Elector’s Document

You can also use one of the following travel passes as photo ID when you vote:

• an older person’s bus pass
• a disabled person’s bus pass
• an Oyster 60+ card
• a Freedom Pass
• a Scottish National Entitlement Card (NEC)
• a 60 and Over Welsh Concessionary Travel Card
• a Disabled Person’s Welsh Concessionary Travel Card
• a Northern Ireland concessionary travel pass

You can still use your photo ID if it is out of date, as long as it still looks like you. The name on your ID should be the same name you used to register to vote. 

You cannot use your polling card as identification.

You can still use your photo ID if it is out of date, as long as it looks like you.

The name on your ID should be the same name you used to register to vote.

If you do not have suitable photo ID, then you can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate. Further information about this can be found below. 

You can apply for a free voter ID document, known as a Voter Authority Certificate, if:

• you don't have an accepted form of photo ID
• you are not sure whether your photo ID still looks like you
• you are worried about using an existing form of ID for any other reason, such as the use of a gender marker

If you have not previously registered to vote, you need to do this before applying for a Voter Authority Certificate. You do not need to register to vote before every election.

For the local elections on Thursday, 4 May 2023, you will need to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate before 5.00pm on Tuesday, 25 April 2023. 

To apply online, visit the Government’s website.  

To request a postal application form, call us on 01793 445500.

You can also apply in person on any working day between 9.30am and 4.00pm at Civic Reception, Civic Offices, Euclid Street, Swindon, SN1 2JH.

There is also an easy read guide about applying for a Voter Authority Certificate.

The name on your ID must match your name on the electoral register. If it does not, you will need to either:

• register to vote again with your new details
• take a document with you to the polling station that proves you’ve changed your name. For example, a marriage certificate.

If you are registered to vote anonymously and want to vote in person, you will need to apply for an anonymous electors document.

Find out more about registering to vote anonymously and how to vote anonymously.

Postal voters will not be affected by the voter ID changes and will be issued with their postal ballot papers as usual. 

If you choose to vote by proxy, which is when someone votes on your behalf, then the person you have trusted to vote on your behalf will have to take their own identification to be issued with a ballot paper.

Apply for a postal or proxy vote.

Your polling station will be on your poll card, which you will receive through the post a few weeks before polling day.

Polling stations will be open from 7.00am to 10.00pm on polling day and may be busy, particularly towards the end of the day. If there is a queue at your polling station, you wil still be able to vote as long as you joined the queue before 10.00pm.