It’s time to renew your postal vote

The Council is contacting existing postal voters who need to renew their application by email or letter in the next few weeks to help them through the process.

Following changes introduced by the Elections Act 2022, those who vote in any election by post are now required to reapply every three years. This helps to ensure the security and accuracy of the absent voter system.

This means that anyone who applied for a permanent postal vote before 31 October 2023 will see their postal vote expire on 31 January 2026 – so will need to make a new application. 

SKDC is about to begin inviting current postal voters to make the change. Of the 18,600 postal voters in South Kesteven, around 16,000 will expire in January.

They will need to re-apply by 31^st January, although no one needs to wait to receive SKDC’s reminder and forms by post. People can reapply for a postal vote online now at www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote at any time.

SKDC Chief Executive Karen Bradford said: “Your vote is important and it’s important not to lose it. If you wish to continue voting by post, you will need to complete a new application.

“We’ve started this process early to make sure there’s plenty of time for people to reapply for their postal vote. Because of the volume of residents involved, we will be contacting postal voters in stages.

“We will email all those we have an email address for first, in three batches from mid-June to mid-July. After then, we will write to the remaining voters and send reminders up until the deadline.

“If you get the email or a letter then please reply to it as soon as you can to make sure you have re-applied for your postal vote by 31st January or your postal vote will be cancelled.” 

The next scheduled election in South Kesteven is due to be held in May 2027.