To vote in Exeter elections, you must:

• Be registered to vote by 20 April at your Exeter address.  
• Not be legally excluded from voting.
• Be 18 years old or older on election day.
• Be a British, Irish, or qualifying Commonwealth citizen. For local and PCC elections you can also be an EU citizen.
• To vote in-person at a polling station, you must also have an accepted photo ID or a Voter Authority Certificate (list of accepted forms of ID and more information). Apply for a free voter ID by 17:00 on Tuesday 28 April.

Different elections around the country have different eligibility which can be found here.

If you are an international student, you could consider absentee voting while you are in the UK (your embassy will be able to give you guidance on this).

Every student member of the Student’s Guild is eligible to vote in our student elections.

Firstly, make sure you’re registered to vote at your address. You can be registered to vote at your ‘home address’ and your ‘university address’.

You can vote only once in a particular election. For general elections, you can vote either at home or in Exeter (not both as it is considered the same election). For local elections, you vote in the election at home and the election in Exeter (providing they are different council areas as they are separate elections). See the Electoral Commission’s guidance for students.  

It’s easiest to register as soon as you’ve moved house, but you can do it at any time (but you need to do it enough time before election in order to meet the deadline). You can register to vote online.  

Once you’re registered, in the weeks before election you will receive by post a polling card informing you of the upcoming election.  

You can vote:

• in person at a polling station (you will need photo ID)
• by post
• by asking someone else to vote for you (voting by proxy)

If you are currently in another country (for example, on a year aboard) there is guidance on how you can still vote from abroad.

While it is not compulsory to vote in the UK, we think it is really important – especially for students. Voting in general elections will help shape national policy which effects higher education and student finance. Voting in a local election will shape policy on housing and planning (including student accommodation) and personal safety (licencing of clubs and taxis, street lighting, and police resources).