County Durham residents have been urged to register to vote ahead of this year’s local elections, writes Local Democracy Reporter, Bill Edgar.
The Durham County Council and parish and town council elections will take place on Thursday 1 May, and will decide the authority’s political future for the next four years.
Residents across the county will be voting to decide who will be elected as their County Councillors for the 51 electoral divisions within County Durham.
Residents will also be voting to elect parish councillors in 197 Parish areas across County Durham, if all the seats are contested.
Anyone currently on the electoral register and eligible to vote in this election will receive a poll card providing details of their voting preference, either voting at an allocated polling station or voting by post or proxy.
For people who are not registered or recently moved house without updating their details can register online by 11:59pm on April 11.
You can check your polling station location by entering your postcode online at the ‘find your polling station’ section of the wheredoivote.co.ukwebsite.
Voters will need to show a form of photo ID to be able to vote in a polling station. If they do not have an acceptable form of photo ID a free voter authority certificate (VAC) can be applied for at https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate/ before 5pm on April 23.
Poll cards for electors registered before March 10 were released on Saturday.
For those electors that have registered to vote from March 10 up until the registration deadline (11 April), poll cards will be released on April 17.
Postal ballot paper packs for existing postal voters will be released on April 14. New applications received between April 3 and the deadline (14 April) will be released on April 21.
Candidates have until Wednesday, April 2 to nominate themselves for election. Nomination papers must be submitted by hand at County Hall in Durham.
A full list of candidates will be published by the council after 4pm on Thursday, April 3.
Bill Edgar
Reporter for the Local Democracy Reporter Service.
South West Durham News covering news across County Durham.
