We know postal voters are keen to know when their UK parliamentary general election ballot pack will arrive. This will depend on:
- when your application was delivered
- how long post takes to be delivered to you – particularly if you are an overseas voter
Existing postal voters plus new applications processed by 23 May 2024
Your postal vote pack will be despatched 1st class on 19 June, including those who are overseas electors.
Applications received by 5pm 19 June 2024
Your postal vote pack will be despatched 1st class on 24 June including those who are overseas electors.
Reasons postal votes aren't sent out as soon as an application comes in
Postal votes aren't sent out as soon as an application comes in because:
- candidate nominations closed at 4pm on Friday 7 June, so ballot papers could only be finalised and sent to print after that
- due to the short notice for the 4 July UK general election, specialist election printers and Royal Mail are working at capacity to print and deliver over 8 million postal votes across the UK
- it’s a complicated process:
- personalised postal vote statements need to be matched with the correct ballot paper.
- there is a need to produce personalised envelopes and instruction sheets
- we need to carry out crucial security checks which add to the time needed to prepare and send votes out
Going on holiday before your vote is likely to arrive
If you applied for a postal vote and don’t think you’ll be home to return it by post on Thursday 4 July, you can drop your completed postal vote pack at your polling station. You must complete a form when you hand it in.
If you won’t be back in time to use your postal vote, you can instead appoint someone you trust as a proxy to vote on your behalf. You will need to:
- cancel your postal vote by 5pm on Wednesday 19 June - this will happen automatically when you appoint a proxy, but you can contact us to talk about other options to cancel
- make a proxy application by 5pm on Wednesday 26 June
- the person you appoint as a proxy must:
- be a registered parliamentary elector who can vote in this election
- only be a proxy for up to 2 electors living in the UK, plus up to 2 people living abroad, or up to 4 people living abroad
Your proxy can:
- vote in person on your behalf at your polling station - they will have to show their own accepted form of photo ID to be able to vote or
- vote by post for you but must apply for a proxy postal vote by 5pm on Wednesday 19 June