Photo ID required if you want to vote in person

[Old Grumpy]

Postal vote applications need to be submitted by 19th June 2024. I have just submitted mine as we will not be able to attend our local polling station on the day.
Applications can me made online and all that is needed is:

Knowledge of your name(s), date of birth and registered address for voting

Knowledge of your national insurance number

An acceptable photograph of your usual signature in black ink on plain white paper.


Quite straightforward really - assuming it's accepted, of course!

[Pulcinella]

Postal vote applications need to be submitted by 19th June 2024. I have just submitted mine as we will not be able to attend our local polling station on the day.
Applications can me made online and all that is needed is:

Knowledge of your name(s), date of birth and registered address for voting

Knowledge of your national insurance number

An acceptable photograph of your usual signature in black ink on plain white paper.


Quite straightforward really - assuming it's accepted, of course!

But let's hope that they're sent out in time.
My partner knew he'd be away for our recent mayoral election, but had already left by the time the papers arrived in the post (less than a week before the vote; not really long enough if you're going to be away for a while); luckily, on the morning of his departure he was able to arrange quickly for a proxy vote instead.

[french frank]

luckily, on the morning of his departure he was able to arrange quickly for a proxy vote instead.

Unfortunately a great deal is left to the initiative of the individual: if you don't comply in the correct way by the deadline you lose your vote. The general vagueness of the average voter surrounding such matters means a) many will not be able to vote but b) many won't be much bothered anyway.

[Serial_Apologist]

And that man's comment is the reason why we need the small, "no-hope" options I would argue. It gives disaffected voters the chance to at least put a cross on a ballot paper and register their lack of support for the binary option, and voting is the priority, not the viability of the candidate. This is my situation - there is no realistic way the tory seat will change, even if the candidate does, so all I can do is say, via my cross, "not my MP".
The apathy and disgust so many feel could yet cause problems for the final outcome if it results in a low turnout. "They're all the same" is nothing new as a complaint, but I think is perhaps felt by far more now than before, and towards both parties, if for different reasons. For many voters just getting rid of the current government is the priority, the structure of the next doesn't figure highly, if at all.

There's so much more one would like to contribute to this discussion........................

[oddoneout]

But let's hope that they're sent out in time.
My partner knew he'd be away for our recent mayoral election, but had already left by the time the papers arrived in the post (less than a week before the vote; not really long enough if you're going to be away for a while); luckily, on the morning of his departure he was able to arrange quickly for a proxy vote instead.

I got my card this morning. It's twice the size they used to be due to the large amount of small print on the back about Voter ID - the list itself takes up one third of the back(and highlights the dearth of easy options for young people). On the plus side of things there is also the information for alternatives to voting in person, in far more detail than I remember being the case previously, including the proxy options. The latter of course were brought to public notice by that MP who needed someone to stand proxy for him because he couldn't vote in person - lack of ID wasn't it?

[teamsaint]

Round here you would be hard pressed to notice an election campaign. I have yet to see a single labour poster anywhere. Went to Bristol today by train and didn’t see a single piece of election material.
I think in total I have seen about five placards.
a friendly printer in Dundee tells me he has never been so busy thanks to the election campaign, so maybe the “contest” up there is more in evidence.

[LMcD]

Round here you would be hard pressed to notice an election campaign. I have yet to see a single labour poster anywhere. Went to Bristol today by train and didn’t see a single piece of election material.
I think in total I have seen about five placards.
a friendly printer in Dundee tells me he has never been so busy thanks to the election campaign, so maybe the “contest” up there is more in evidence.

I've seen 2 so far. One simply said 'Vote Green' and the other named the candidate the householder was supporting, but I'm afraid I don't know for which party that candidate is standing.

[french frank]

Round here you would be hard pressed to notice an election campaign. I have yet to see a single labour poster anywhere. Went to Bristol today by train and didn’t see a single piece of election material.

Here posters - a few - have been left up from the council elections. Not much going on but I have had a Labour leaflet from the erstwhile (and no doubt soon to be again) Labour MP. I imagine all the parties are focusing on the seats they hope to win or fear to lose.

[teamsaint]

Here posters - a few - have been left up from the council elections. Not much going on but I have had a Labour leaflet from the erstwhile (and no doubt soon to be again) Labour MP. I imagine all the parties are focusing on the seats they hope to win or fear to lose.

I have a theory that Labour are so sure of victory that they are saving the money for 2029. If so, it is probably one of their better ideas.

[AuntDaisy]

Here posters - a few - have been left up from the council elections. Not much going on but I have had a Labour leaflet from the erstwhile (and no doubt soon to be again) Labour MP. I imagine all the parties are focusing on the seats they hope to win or fear to lose.

Three Vote Green signs up in the village, not much else. I'd heard that they were hopeful for Bristol Central...

[french frank]

Three Vote Green signs up in the village, not much else. I'd heard that they were hopeful for Bristol Central...

They were hopeful for Bristol West (now B. Central) last time but failed by a considerable margin, even though a national agreement meant the Lib Dems (who had previously held the seat) stood aside for them. As the boundary changes have moved me to Bristol North West I don't know what showing the Greens are making in Central. The Conservatives came second in North West (it had previously been a Tory seat) so a Labour win is presumably a foregone conclusion.

The ward I live in straddles the two constituencies. It had been Green for a few years so I was bombarded with literature from them for the council election - which they duly won. But they are in deposit-losing territory in North West so 'Lasciate ogni speranza, o Verdi ...'

[LMcD]

There's so much more one would like to contribute to this discussion........................

I think that among the more significant, and probably more alarming, numbers will be the national turnout and the number of spoilt papers. Both will serve as a measure of the public's current view of our political system and those operating within it.

[AuntDaisy]

They were hopeful for Bristol West (now B. Central) last time but failed by a considerable margin, even though a national agreement meant the Lib Dems (who had previously held the seat) stood aside for them. As the boundary changes have moved me to Bristol North West I don't know what showing the Greens are making in Central. The Conservatives came second in North West (it had previously been a Tory seat) so a Labour win is presumably a foregone conclusion.

The ward I live in straddles the two constituencies. It had been Green for a few years so I was bombarded with literature from them for the council election - which they duly won. But they are in deposit-losing territory in North West so 'Lasciate ogni speranza, o Verdi ...'

It was a Green councillor who told me

[french frank]

I think that among the more significant, and probably more alarming, numbers will be the national turnout and the number of spoilt papers. Both will serve as a measure of the public's current view of our political system and those operating within it.

Something a bit odd about this. The Guardian's newsletter has a piece by John Curtice on why the public's trust in politicians hasn't been lower in over 50 years. His analysis includes:

"Lying politicians, “Partygate” gatherings in No 10 during Covid lockdowns, and crumbling public services haven’t helped. But Curtice says the biggest factor is the UK leaving the EU – and the government’s seeming inability to “get Brexit done”.

The survey found that 71% believe the economy is worse off as a result of leaving the EU, up from 51% in 2019. Now just 24% of people think Britain should be outside the EU, down from 36% in 2019."

All this has happened under a right-wing Tory government and yet the public reaction is to swing even further to the right by abandoning the Tories in favour of Reform.

It was a Green councillor who told me

I think Bristol Central is their top target seat (after Brighton which they already hold). Predictions are that it is their most likely gain but they have against them the fact that there is an almost 20,000 Labour majority to overcome when Labour is buoyant in the polls. Their own poll rating may not be high enough, though local situations buck national trends. Lib Dems are not standing down this time and are predicted nationally to do well.

[smittims]

I think it would be bad for democracy if too many people didn't vote because they expect the result to be as predicted. In 1945 the Conservatives were very confident of winning.