The deadline is fast approaching for voters in England to secure the necessary photo identification to participate in next week's local and mayoral elections.
With polls opening on May 1st, individuals lacking an acceptable photo ID have mere hours to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate.
These elections hold significant weight, with 1,641 council seats contested across 23 local authorities.
Beyond local councils, four regional mayoral positions and two local mayoralties are also being decided. Additionally, a parliamentary by-election will take place in the constituency of Runcorn & Helsby.
Crucially, only specific forms of photo identification will be permitted at polling stations. Accepted forms include passports, driving licence photocards, blue badges, and older person's bus passes.
Those without these approved documents must apply for a Voter Authority Certificate by the 5pm deadline on Wednesday. Failure to do so will result in being turned away from polling stations and the inability to cast a vote.
This can be done online at gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate.
Photo ID rules were brought in as part of the Elections Act 2022 and were first enforced in England in 2023 and across Britain at the 2024 general election.
Voters in Northern Ireland have been required to show ID at elections since 2003.
An average of 219 applications for a voter authority certificate (VAC) were made each day in the week to April 21, the highest number so far this year, but up only slightly from 215 the previous week and 211 a fortnight earlier.
Just 9% of VAC applications in the most recent week came from people under 25, while 4% came from those aged 75 and over, according to analysis of Government figures by the PA news agency.
Applications from 55 to 64-year-olds accounted for 28% of the total, followed by 45 to 54-year-olds (22%), 35 to 44-year-olds (19%), 25 to 34-year-olds (10%) and 65 to 74-year-olds (8%).
Jackie Killeen, director of electoral administration and regulation at the Electoral Commission, said: “Voters will be required to show photo ID at polling stations next week.
“Our research shows that the vast majority of voters already have an accepted form of ID, but for those that do not, the free ID is an important option.
“Time is running out to apply for the free ID, so we are calling on anyone that needs it to make sure they have submitted their application by 5pm on Wednesday so that they can cast their vote on May 1.
“Applications can be made online or by completing a paper form, which can be obtained from your local council.
“Voters will need to provide a photo, their full name, date of birth, the address at which they are registered to vote and their national insurance number.”
No scheduled elections are taking place on May 1 in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
It is nonetheless the first big test at the ballot box for political parties since Labour won the general election in July 2024.
Of the 23 local authorities in England holding elections on May 1, 14 are county councils: Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Devon, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
The others are the unitary authorities of Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Durham, North Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Shropshire, West Northamptonshire and Wiltshire, plus Doncaster Metropolitan Council.
Every seat on all 23 authorities is up for grabs, but boundary changes mean some areas will be electing fewer councillors than before.
Four combined-authority mayors are being elected on May 1, for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, Greater Lincolnshire, Hull & East Yorkshire and the West of England, along with two single-authority mayors in Doncaster and North Tyneside.
The by-election in Runcorn & Helsby was triggered by the resignation of the previous MP, Mike Amesbury, after he was given a suspended prison sentence for punching a man in a street in Frodsham, Cheshire in October 2024.
Mr Amesbury won the seat for Labour at the 2024 general election but was suspended by the party after footage emerged of the punch, and spent the last few months sitting as an independent MP.
