Vote by Post or Proxy

If you are unable to, or do not wish to, vote in person at your assigned polling station you can apply to vote by post or by proxy.

A Postal Vote is where your ballot papers are sent to you to ahead of poll day.  You then complete the paperwork and return your ballot by post.

A Proxy Vote is where you nominate a person to cast your vote for you.  This person can cast your vote at your assigned polling station or they can choose to cast your vote by post (as long as they request this in time). 

Voting by post

Anyone who applied for a postal vote before 31 October 2023 will need to reapply before 31 January 2026. We will be emailing existing postal voters in the first instance and ask them to reapply. Anyone who has not supplied an email address will receive a letter advising of the new requirements and asking them to renew before 31 January 2026.

How to Apply

• Online at www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote.  You will need to be able to upload a photo / image of your handwritten signature as part of the application. 
• An application form to vote by post is available from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-for-a-postal-vote  The form must be printed off and signed. You can submit the signed application by sending a scanned image attached to an email to vote@dover.gov.uk or you can return it by post.

The deadline to apply for a postal vote is 5pm, 11 working days before the election.  If you have a postal vote in place at 5pm, 11 working days before an election- you cannot vote at the polling station, vote by proxy or by emergency proxy, change the details of your postal vote nor cancel your postal vote.

You can ask for a postal vote for one particular election only, for a particular period, or have it set up for a maximum of 3 years.  If you ask for your postal vote to be valid for the maximum period, we will write out to let you know when your postal vote is due for renewal.

How does postal voting work?

Postal votes can be despatched approximately 10 days before an election date, so you should bear this in mind if choosing to vote by post- especially if you ask for your ballot papers to be sent overseas.

You will receive a ballot paper and a postal voting statement which you have to complete, an envelope to put the ballot paper in and a postage-paid return envelope (not valid overseas).  Place your completed ballot paper and postal vote statement in the return envelope provided and post.

It is your responsibility to post it back in time to reach us before the close of poll on election day. This is especially relevant for ballot papers being sent overseas.  If in doubt, you can take your postal vote on election day (before the close of poll) to your assigned polling station and hand it to the presiding officer.  Please note - if you hand deliver postal votes you will need to complete a form at the delivery point and the form must be countersigned by an authorised officer.

You are only allowed to hand deliver a total of 5 postal votes in addition to your own.

Candidates and campaigners can only hand in postal votes for people in their own household or that they act as carers for - they MUST NOT return postal votes for anyone else.

Failure to complete the form or complete it incorrectly, handing in more postal votes than the maximum allowed or being a candidate/campaigner handing in non-eligible postal votes will result in all the postal votes you hand delivered to be rejected and not included in the counting of the votes.

What if something goes wrong?

If you have not received your ballot paper by the fourth working day before election day, you can ask us to give you a replacement ballot paper - but we can only do this up to 5pm on the day of the election. We will ask you for proof of identity. The short timescale and the need for proof of identity, will mean that you have to come to the council offices to collect a replacement ballot paper.

If you fill in your ballot paper incorrectly and you want us to replace it, you must bring it to the council offices together with all the other documents we sent with it, and ask us to give you a new ballot paper. You must do this before 5pm on the day of the election at the latest. You will have to collect the new papers from the council offices in Whitfield if there is not time to post them to you.

Cancelling a Postal Vote

You can cancel a postal vote but you must tell us in writing. We need to receive no later than 5pm, 11 working days before an election or you will still get your postal vote and not be able to vote at a polling station at that election.

Voting by proxy

Proxy voting is when you appoint someone to attend your polling station and vote on your behalf. There are three types of Proxy Vote: a one-off proxy for a particular election, a long-term proxy and an emergency proxy. 

You may need to have your application for a proxy vote supported by someone (for example a medical worker or education provider).

Long term proxy applications for domestic electors i.e. UK based electors who are not registered to vote as service voters or crown servants, are valid for a maximum of 5 years. 

If you already have a postal vote in place at 5pm, 11 working days before an election- you cannot vote by proxy or by emergency proxy.

How to Apply

• One-off proxy applications for a particular election can be applied for online at www.gov.uk/apply-proxy-vote.  You will need to be able to upload a photo / image of your handwritten signature as part of the application. 
• Long term proxy and emergency proxy applications are only available under set, specific circumstances and will usually require the application form to be signed by an authorised person (such as a medical worker, employer etc).  Application forms, along with details of eligibility and who needs to support your application, can be downloaded from https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/proxy-voting-application-forms.  Forms must be printed off and signed. You can submit the signed application by sending the scanned image attached to an email to vote@dover.gov.uk or you can return it by post.  
• If you are registered as a Service Voter or an Overseas Elector, you can apply for a long-term proxy vote online at www.gov.uk/apply-proxy-vote

To vote by proxy at any election we must receive your application at the very latest by:

• 5pm on the 11^th working day before the election if you already have an existing postal or proxy vote in place.
• 5pm on the 6^th working day before the election if you do not have an existing postal or proxy vote in place.
• 5pm on poll day for an emergency proxy.

The person you choose to act as your proxy must be registered to vote, must be eligible to vote in the election and must not be acting as a proxy for more than 4 people, of which no more than 2 can be for domestic electors i.e., UK based and not service voters or crown servants.

You can still vote in a polling station if you set up a proxy vote, but you must get to the polling station before your proxy has used your vote. You cannot vote yourself if your proxy has already voted for you or if your proxy has applied to cast your vote by post.

Anybody voting in person at a polling station (including your proxy) must show a form of photographic identification. Details of acceptable identification can be found on our Voter ID page

Cancelling a Proxy Vote

You can cancel a proxy vote but you must tell us in writing. We need to receive this no later than 5pm, 11 working days before an election or your proxy will still be able to vote on your behalf at that election.