Voting underneath manner in native elections – with ID required for the primary time

Voters in components of England are heading to the polls to solid their ballots for councillors and mayors on this yr’s native elections.

Elections are being held in 230 of England’s 317 councils, inside district, borough, county borough and unitary authority councils, together with 4 mayoral elections in Bedford, Leicester, Mansfield and Middlesbrough.

There are not any native elections in Scotland or Wales, however voters in Northern Ireland will be capable of have their say on 18 May, with 462 seats throughout 11 native councils up for grabs.

Polls opened at 7am and can shut at 10pm, giving voters a 15-hour window to mark their ballots.

But for the primary time, folks will likely be required to take ID with them to be eligible to vote.

A full checklist of legitimate identification may be discovered here, with examples together with a driving licence, passport and older particular person’s bus cross.

However, journey passes for youthful folks, akin to a teenager’s railcard, is not going to be accepted.

Read extra:
All you need to know about the local elections
Voters have one pressing issue on their minds – analysis
The key councils to watch

Speaking to Sky News this morning, the Electoral Commission’s director of communications, Craig Westwood, mentioned voters would be capable of use an expired ID at polling stations so long as it nonetheless appears like them.

Mr Westwood mentioned passports, driving licences and incapacity blue badges that had been old-fashioned may all be used so long as the picture nonetheless resembles the person.

He mentioned: “There is a specific list of around 20 [forms of ID] so I urge people to check that list.

“One vital factor is that I’ve not checked the dates in your IDs however what I can say is that all of them appear to be you and that is the actually vital factor.

“If you’ve got an ID which has expired that doesn’t matter as long as it still looks like you.”

He added that Electoral Commission analysis discovered that round 96% of individuals have already got an eligible picture ID.

The Local Government Association has urged voters to be affected person with polling workers if there are queues, or if the method “takes a little longer than usual” because of the new guidelines.

Results will start coming in in a single day on Thursday and into Friday, with Sky News bringing you full protection each on TV and on-line.

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