Voting at a polling station

Find out how to cast your vote at your nearest polling station and have your say on who represents you.

Where is my local polling station?

Your poll card will tell you which polling station in Royal Greenwich you should vote at.

Usually your polling place will be a local school or community centre within a few minutes' walk of your home. Most polling stations are accessible to people with mobility disabilities, and in some cases temporary ramping is provided for polling day.

If you have not received your poll card and want to check your polling place and its accessibility, please contact the electoral office.

You can also find your nearest polling station online.

What happens if I've lost my poll card or it hasn't arrived in time?

If you have registered to vote you should have received your poll card through your letterbox. If you are not on the electoral register, than you cannot vote.

You can take your poll card with you when you vote, but you are not required to do so.

If you don't have your poll card with you but you have registered to vote then your name and address will be on the register. This will be checked by the clerk when you arrive.

If your poll card does not arrive in time, or you have forgotten which polling station to go to, contact our electoral office.

Is my vote secret?

Your vote is secret and this secrecy is one of the cornerstones of our democracy.

There are several ways we ensure this:

• voting compartments are designed to allow you to vote without being seen
• poll staff are under a legal duty to maintain and promote the secrecy of the vote
• the ballot box is locked and sealed at the start of polling, and cannot be opened until after it arrives at the count
• at the count we cannot tell who has voted on which ballot paper
• after the count all the ballot papers are put into a sealed packet, which can only be opened at an election court, and are later destroyed.

At the polling station

After entering, give your name and address to the people at the administration table.

They will mark your name on the polling register to show that you have voted. They will also give you the ballot paper or papers and you can then go to a booth and cast your vote.

If you are blind or partially sighted

If you are blind or partially sighted, you can ask the polling staff for a tactile device to help you mark your own ballot paper personally.

Alternatively, you can be assisted by a companion or by the presiding officer.

Casting your vote

Go to a voting booth to mark your vote in secret. Use the pencil in the voting booth to write an X in the box to the right of the candidate of your choice.

Both the ballot paper and the notice in the voting booth tell you how many candidates you can vote for. If you vote for more, or write anything else on the ballot paper, your votes will not be counted.

If you make a mistake, you can take your ballot paper to the presiding officer and ask for a new one.

When you have voted, put your ballot paper in the ballot box near the administration table and then leave the polling station.

Outside the polling station

On your way in or out, you may be asked by people working for the candidates for your poll card or your poll number. They are not an official part of the election and you don't have to give any information to them if you don't want to.