What You Need to Know | Promote the Migrant Vote

Promote the Migrant Vote is a collaborative project organised by Migrants Organise with a number of charities and organisations in the migration and race equality sector.

Voters in many parts of the UK will be able to vote in May 2022.

Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Assembly Elections; as well as elections for five Members of the Legislative Assembly

Scotland: Local Council Elections

Wales: Local Council Elections

England: Local Council Elections will take place; as well as some local Mayoral elections inc. Mayor of South Yorkshire

To vote in a local government election you must:

be registered to vote
be 18 or over on the day of the election (16 or over in Scotland and Wales)
be registered at an address in the area you want to vote in
not be legally excluded from voting

You must also be one of the following:

a British citizen
an Irish or EU citizen
a qualifying Commonwealth citizen
Scotland and Wales: a citizen of another country living in Scotland or Wales who has permission to enter or stay in the UK, or who does not need permission

More information can be found on our “Can I Vote” page. This provides information about who is eligible to vote in a UK General Election.

Important Information

Before you can vote, you must first register to vote. The process is simple and usually only takes 5 minutes.

It is very important that we begin mobilising in our communities to register to vote now, as there will be a deadline for registration during the election. We do not yet know when the deadline is! There are lots of ways to register. The easiest is to register online. Go to: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.

To find out more information on how to register to vote, and what you might need, see our ‘Register to Vote’ guide here.

You can also register directly with your local electoral registration office. To find your local electoral registration office, and contact them directly, go to: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/register-to-vote/find-your-local-authority.

What Happens on Election Day?

On Election Day you will go to vote in your local polling station. A polling station is a local building where people go and place their vote into a ballot box to choose who they want to represent them. On Election Day, polling stations will be open from 7 am to 10 pm. You can go and vote at any time during those hours.

Before Election Day, you will be sent a poll card in the post. The location of your polling station will be on the poll card delivered to you before election day. Alternatively, you can find out where you go to vote by contacting your local authority, or by entering your postcode here: https://wheredoivote.co.uk/.

You do not need to bring your poll card with you when you go to vote. All you need is yourself! Visit the Electoral Commission for more information about voting in person.

You can also vote by proxy (where someone else votes for you) or you can vote by post (where you mail in your ballot paper before Election Day). For more information on this, please go to our Register to Vote guide.

How Do I Vote?

You do not need your poll card to vote, and you do not need to show any ID, unless you live in Northern Ireland (see here for more information). You only need yourself!
Read the instructions of how to mark your ballot paper carefully – if you write anything additional on it, it will be discounted.
You do not have to tell anyone how you voted if you do not want to! More info:

https://www.yourvotematters.co.uk/faq

http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/faq

https://votingcounts.org.uk/how-to-vote

Promote Migrant Vote

Promote the Migrant Vote is a campaign raising awareness of the rights of migrants to vote and have a say in the democratic process. The campaign is organised through Migrants Organise and a community of migrant and refugee organisations, groups and communities.

Spread the word #PromoteMigrantVote

Important Information

Before you can vote, you must first register to vote.

The process is simple and only takes 5 minutes.

You can register online at https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Contact Us:

voters@migrantsorganise.org