Proxy voting

The Elections Act 2022 has introduced several changes to voting and electoral processes. You will now need to provide your date of birth, National Insurance number and signature on your proxy application.

Applications for a long-term proxy vote for overseas voters, Crown Servant & British Council employees or Members of the Armed Forces can be made online at www.gov.uk/apply-proxy-vote. You are required to upload a clear photo of your signature to complete your application.

Long-term proxy vote applications for disability, employment or education reasons can only be renewed by completing a paper application form. This is due to the requirement for the application to be supported by an attestation.

All paper application forms can be found in our list of applications below. For ways to return your application form, please see our ‘How to return your application form to us’ section at the bottom of this page.

The rules about who can be a proxy are different depending on the type of election you want to vote in.  Please ensure that you read the notes carefully before completing your application form.

The deadline for ordinary proxy applications is 5pm, on the sixth working day before the poll.

Cancelling your proxy vote

If you have appointed a proxy but change your mind and wish to vote yourself, we will require a letter from you with a penned signature asking for your proxy vote arrangement to be cancelled. During an election period, proxy votes can be cancelled up to 11 working days before the poll.

How to return your application form to us

You can return completed application forms to any of our offices by post or by email to [email protected] – we can only accept black & white clear scanned images under 50MB (51200kB).  We cannot accept photographs of application forms. Address details can be found on our forms or here

If you are having any difficulties with the completion of the form or require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact the Electoral Registration Officer on 0800 393 783 or e-mail [email protected]