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Absent voting

What is absent voting?

If a voter cannot get to the polling station on the day of the election, they can apply for an absent vote. There are two types of absent vote:

• Postal votes: where you fill in your ballot in advance and send it back to be counted.
• Proxy votes: where you ask someone to vote on your behalf on polling day.

Someone who has requested a postal vote cannot vote in person at a polling station, but they can hand in a postal ballot pack.

Someone who has requested a proxy vote can vote in person if they vote before their proxy. If their proxy has requested a postal ballot then they cannot vote at the polling station.

Applying for an absent vote

The rules on who can apply for an absent vote vary depending where in the UK the voter lives.

Applications for absent votes for voters in Great Britain can be made online or using a paper form. The online ‘Apply for a postal vote’ and ‘Apply for a proxy vote’ services are on the Gov.UK website. These run alongside the UK Government’s existing online register to vote service. Someone must be registered to vote to be able to apply for an absent vote.

Electors can only apply online for an absent vote for all elections in Great Britain. 

Voters in Northern Ireland must apply by sending a hard-copy form to the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland.

Voters in Great Britain do not need to give a reason to apply for a postal vote. This is known as postal voting ‘on demand’. This is not available in Northern Ireland where voters must give a reason. Valid reasons for not being able to attend a polling station are illness or disability, or being away from home (for holiday, work or education).

Voters wanting a proxy vote must give a reason. The reasons are again illness or disability, or being away from home because of a holiday, work or education. This applies across the UK.

Absent votes can be requested at any time but there are deadlines for setting up absent voting arrangements before a specific election. Again, these vary depending where in the UK a voter lives.

The Electoral Commission I am a voter website provides current information for all parts of the UK, including how to apply.

How popular is absent voting?

At the 2024 general election there were 48.2 million registered electors. Of those, 19.9% were issued with a postal ballot, up from 17.2% in 2019.

The number of electors who appointed a proxy was 0.4%, compared to 0.6% in 2019.

Turnout

Turnout tends to be higher for postal voters than those who vote at polling stations. At the 2024 general election (data spreadsheet) 79% of postal ballots were returned. Turnout at polling stations was 56%. Overall turnout for the general election in 2024 was 59.7%.

In need of reform?

Postal votes returned after 10pm on polling day cannot be included in the count and some voters experience difficulties in returning their votes in time to be included, particularly overseas voters.

There are administrative and practical reasons why some postal votes fail to make it back in time. These include the time available to have ballots printed and sent out in the election timetable and the deadlines for applications within it.

The Electoral Commission has found no widespread, systemic issues with postal voting but has said postal voting should be reformed to improve services for voters and strengthen resilience within the system. The Association of Electoral Administrators has said the volume of postal voting and the “lack of capacity across the supply chain leaves elections vulnerable”.

Recommendations include altering the deadlines for application and making emergency proxies available for people experiencing difficulties with postal votes.

Representation of the People Bill

The UK Government has included some proposals on absent voting in the Representation of the People Bill 2024-2026, 2026-27. These include bringing forward the deadline for postal vote applications in Great Britain. By moving the deadline for applications from 11 to 14 working days before polling day there will be more time for ballots to be sent and returned.

New rules would allow voters to be able to cancel their postal vote and to vote by emergency proxy or in person in certain circumstances, such as if a postal ballot has not arrived in time. Currently emergency proxies are not available to people whose postal ballot has not turned up in time.

The bill will also change to the renewal period for postal vote arrangements from three to five years. This is designed to reduce the burden on voters and administrators.