Your Vote Matters

It is important you make your voice heard. The UK is run by a democracy which means we all have a say in who represents us. The same way in Student Elections in the SU, you vote for your Officers who you want to represent you and make positive changes to university life, the general election is where you vote for who you want to represent you in the UK to make positive changes to your life.

In the last election in 2019, 47.5 million people registered to vote but only 67.3% voted in the election. This means 15.5 million people didn’t vote in the election. The party that received the largest number of votes received 13.9 million votes. This means more people didn’t vote that who voted for the winning party. If everyone who didn’t vote voted, the results could be very different. Every vote counts and your voice and opinions matters.

Citizens of UK, Ireland, and commonwealth nations. Find out more on the gov website.

Who you want to vote for can be a private thing. You do not need to disclose who you are voting for if you do not want to.

The easiest and quickest way is to register to vote online by visiting… gov.uk/register-to-vote.

Every local authority holds the electoral register for their own area. There is no online electoral roll.

To check if you are registered to vote, you will need to contact your local registration office.

The Government website has a list of ID’s that are acceptable to bring to a polling station. You can check these out on the gov website here. A Passport and Drivers Licence is acceptable ID. You are not able to use your university student card.

You can order a free ID through the NUS and Citizens Card (normally £15) that you are able to use on the election day. Use code: NUS when ordering. Order Here

There are currently four candidates running in the Ceredigion elections. They are: o Labour and Co-operative Party: Jackie Jones o Plaid Cymru: Ben Lake o Conservative: Aled Jones o Liberal Democrats: Mark Williams A Candidate you are aware of that is not on this list. Email suvoiuce@aber.ac.uk and we will update this list ASAP.

Each party and candidate with have a manifesto saying what they would like to do if elected. Have a look through and vote for the party that aligns the most with what you want. The main party leaders will also have live debates which will be streamed on TV. Keep an eye out for when these are and will do our best to update you when these are happening.

If you are voting in a polling station, you will have a day to go in and vote and you will be told to go to a certain polling station depending on where you live in the town. If you are doing a postal vote, a letter will be sent to your door and you will have a certain period of time to complete the form and post it back. You are able to ask for a postal vote for any reason but they are a more accessible way of voting if you are unable to go to a polling station.

You will go to your assigned polling station which will depend on where you live. You will have to show your ID (approved election voting ID) and the volunteer on the door will explain where to go and will give you your ballet paper. They will also tell you where to put it once you have voted. To vote you will have a small area that only you are allowed to go so that your vote is private and you mark on the paper who you want to vote for. After you sometimes get a sticker to say you have voted - yay

If you decide this before the ballet paper has been sent out, you are able to cancel the postal vote. If the ballet paper has already been posted, then you are not able to cancel it and will have to vote through the postal vote. However, some polling station will allow you to post your vote at the polling station if it is in a sealed envelope.

You will be sent a letter to the address you are registered to and you complete your ballet paper at home. You will then need to post this letter back. It will say on the letter when this is due back. You will not need to pay to post this letter. The deadline to register for a postal vote is the 19th June. You do need to have registered to vote before registering for a postal vote.

A proxy vote is when you nominate someone to vote on your behalf. You tell them who you want to vote for and they can physically do it for you. The deadline for a proxy vote is the 26th June. You do need to have registered to vote before registering for a proxy vote. You can sign up to do a proxy vote here. Who can you ask to be your proxy? • are registered to vote • are allowed to vote in the type of election taking place • can vote in the polling station stated on your poll card They do also need to bring ID for themselves.

You are within your right to register at both your home and term time address and your university address. However, this doesn’t mean you can vote twice – sorry! You will have to decide where you would like to vote. This is a privileged position to be in as you can choose where your vote will matter most for you.

You can only vote for one person. Each constituency elects one MP to hold a seat at parliament. Whichever party has the most elected MPs (seats at parliament) wins the election. To be made into the government, the party needs 50%+1 seats to be a winning government. Therefore, after all the counts have come in, if this isn’t the case, the larger parties will make deals with other smaller parties to join them to bring them up to the 50%+1 results. This is why sometimes you can have a coalition government like what happened in 2010 with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

This will depend on the election. When counting the votes as soon as they are know who will win they will announce it or they will count all the votes. You will be able to track the count as it happens. In cases of a hung parliament the results may take a little longer.

 Wrong! Whilst the General Election takes place around every four years or so there are lots of other elections you can vote in. You can vote to elect your local councillors, members of the European Parliament and if you live in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales you can vote for devolved bodies too!

Not necessarily. If you are an EU or Commonwealth citizen can register to vote.

Definitely not. You are absolutely within your right to register at both your home and term time address. However, this doesn’t mean you can vote twice. Sorry! You will have to decide where you would like to vote.

Out of 650 constituencies in the UK, research by NUS found that in over 200 of them students have the power to change the result completely. And it’s not just about voting either, before you even set foot in a polling station you can have an amazing impact by campaigning to the candidates on the issues that matter to you.

Nah, you’re fine! In fact, for most elections you can register up to 11 days before the vote. Plenty of time.

When you first register to vote, unless you’ve opted out your details will go onto two registers, an electoral register and an open register. With the open register, which includes all of your contact details including name and address, anyone can buy this off your local authority and use your details. If you want to avoid this then you can tick a box during the registration process to opt out or once you are registered ring up your local council and ask them to take you off.

This is tricky. You do need your national insurance number as a form of identification. Luckily you can find it here.

You’re in luck, if you live in England, Scotland or Wales then you can register online. Just go to www.gov.uk/register-to-vote. If you can register online then do it! It’s much quicker and easier!

The Electoral Commission is the independent body which oversees the running of elections. The body regulates the amount of money that parties and individuals spend during the election. They are also responsible for the implementation of the Lobbying Act, a piece of legislation which regulates the campaigning work of charities and other organisations.

The Electoral Register is the list of registered voters in a particular constituency or area. If you are not on the electoral register you are not eligible to vote.

ERO stands for Electoral Registration Officer, an appointed individual who is responsible for putting together and maintaining the electoral register.

IER stands for Individual Electoral Registration. This is a new system that came into place in June 2014. This system means everyone must register themselves to vote individually rather than the old system where one ‘head of household’ would register everyone at a property. This causes issues for block registration for students. Look at tick box enrolment as an alternative.

A local authority is the administrative body in local government. The affairs of your local area are managed by your local authority. The local authority is your nearest county or city council. You may want to check what areas they cover to determine who to get in contact with about voter registration.

If you were born or live in the UK then before your 16th birthday you will received your National Insurance Number. This number is used to administer national insurance contributions and as a form of identification. Under the new system of individual electoral registration your national insurance number is used in the validation process to get registered.

Polling day is a technical term for Election Day! This is the day when those registered are eligible to go and vote.