Photo ID required for May elections

Published: 24 January 2023

On Thursday 4 May, voters will go to the polls to elect councillors to represent West Berkshire Council and local town and parish councils.

Since elections were last held in May 2019, the UK Government has introduced a requirement for voters to show photo ID when voting at a polling station at some elections. This new requirement will apply for the first time in England at the May local elections.

You may already have a form of photo ID that is acceptable. You can use any of the following:

Passport
Driving licence (including provisional license)
Blue badge
Certain concessionary travel cards
Identity card with PASS mark (Proof of Age Standards Scheme)
Biometric Immigration document
Defence identity card
Certain national identity cards

Anyone who does not have an accepted form of photo ID or who’s not sure their photo ID still looks like them can apply for a free voter ID document, known as a Voter Authority Certificate. Applications for this may be made by post or via the Electoral Commission web site.

The deadline to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate for the local elections on 4 May 2023 is 5.00pm on Tuesday 25 April.

A photo ID is not required for postal votes.

Information about registering to vote and voting by proxy or by post can be found on West Berkshire Council’s web site.