Renewing existing postal vote applications

Why do I have to reapply?

The way you apply for a postal vote has changed. 

The Elections Act 2022 introduced the following changes to postal voting:

• All postal vote applications must contain the applicant's name, address, date of birth, national insurance number and signature
• The applicant's identity must be verified against records held by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP.) If this identity check fails, the applicant must provide evidence of their identity
• Postal votes are now valid for a maximum of 3 years

We will contact all affected postal voters in advance of their expiry date to ask them to re-apply for their postal vote as soon as possible.

How to renew your postal vote

The quickest and easiest way to renew is to reapply for a postal vote online.

Reapply for a postal vote online

If you do not re-apply by the expiry date, your postal vote will be cancelled.

How we will contact you

We will send a letter or email to all affected postal voters in advance of the expiry date for their postal vote.

So that you can spot a genuine email from us:

• The email title will be 'Action Required to Continue to Vote by Post'
• The sender will be: wokingham.borough.council.electoral.services@notifications.service.gov.uk

Some members of the same household may be contacted in different ways depending on whether we have an email address or not.

We are using emails where a voter has provided an email address to reduce the cost and environmental impact of sending letters by post. Please help us by responding to our request for information as soon as possible.

More information

Please contact the Elections Team if:

• You no longer wish to vote by post (include your name, address and a request to remove your postal vote application)
• You received an email, but are unable to complete your application online and want to ask for a paper form

For more information, see our vote by post or vote by proxy pages.

The next scheduled local government elections can be found on our current elections page.