UK General Election – 4 July 2024

On Thursday 4 July you will be able to vote in the UK Parliamentary (General) Election.

In this election you will vote to elect a Member of Parliament (MP) to represent your local constituency area to help make decisions on important national issues.

Information for voters:

Key deadlines for this election

• You must be registered to vote by – midnight on Tuesday 18 June 2024
• Postal vote and postal proxy vote applications – 5pm on Wednesday 19 June 2024
• Changes to existing postal and postal proxy vote arrangements – 5pm on Wednesday 19 June 2024
• Voter Authority Certificate (voter ID) applications – 5pm on Wednesday 26 June 2024
• New proxy vote applications – 5pm on Wednesday 26 June 2024

To vote in this election you must:

• be registered to vote be registered to vote. Registration to vote in the General Election on Thursday 4 July has now closed. If you are not sure whether you are registered, you can check by contacting our Electoral Services team using the details at the bottom of this page. 
• be 18 or over on the day of the election (‘polling day’)
• be a British, Irish or qualifying Commonwealth citizen
• be resident at an address in the UK or Gibraltar, or living abroad and registered as an overseas voter
• not be legally excluded from voting.

Who can you vote for?

The candidates for the 2024 UK General Election have now been confirmed. To find out who is standing for election in your area, please enter your postcode on the Who can I vote for website.

Alternatively, please click on the:

• Statement of Persons Nominated – Didcot and Wantage
• Statement of Persons Nominated – Oxford West and Abingdon
• Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll – Witney

MPs are elected using the First Past the Post system. You vote once for a candidate in your constituency and the candidate with the most votes becomes your MP.

Please note – changes that take effect at this election mean that some areas of the Vale of White Horse are now in the Witney Constituency. You can find information on the Witney Constituency on the West Oxfordshire District Council website here.

How you can vote:

You can vote at your designated polling station on Thursday 4 July between 7am and 10pm.

If you are registered to vote, you should receive a poll card a shortly before the election which will tell you where you need to go to cast your ballot.  You can also find your polling station by entering your postcode on the Where do I vote website.

• To vote at a polling station you MUST bring photo ID or a Voter Authority Certificate with you – a wide range of photo ID will be accepted, including passports, driving licences and cards with a PASS Mark – you can see the full list of accepted ID on the Electoral Commission website.  Applications for Voter Authority Certificates (Voter ID) have now closed for this election.

• If your photo ID is lost, stolen, destroyed or damaged – click here to download a Photo ID Emergency Proxy Application Form.  Please complete the form and then send a scanned or photographed copy to elections@southandvale.gov.uk.  Applications must be submitted by 5pm on polling day, Thursday 4 July.

• Please note, the Veterans ID card is not an accepted form of ID for voting, so you will not be able to use this at the polling station.

• To help save time issuing ballot papers and updating our records, staff in many of our polling stations will be using electronic tablets instead of the traditional paper register. Staff will scan the QR code shown on your poll card, verify your details and will then give you your ballot paper. No data is permanently stored on the tablets and your vote will remain secret.

To find out more about voting a polling station, including the support that’s available if you have a visual impairment, please see our vote at your local polling station page.

The deadline to sign up to vote by post in the UK General Election on Thursday 4 July has now closed. If you missed the chance to apply for a postal vote, you still have time to apply for a proxy vote (see below).

• If you were expecting a postal ballot but haven’t received it by 28 June, please call 01235 422528 or email elections@southandvale.gov.uk as soon as possible to request a replacement. 

• Once you receive it, please complete your postal pack and return it immediately using a Royal Mail post box.  We must receive your completed postal voting pack by 10pm on Thursday 4 July, otherwise your vote will not count.

• If you miss the post, you can hand it in at our Abbey House council office in Abingdon (during office hours only) or at a polling station on election day until 10pm – please note, the person handing it in is now required to complete further documentation.  Your postal vote will be rejected if it’s not received correctly – please DO NOT leave it in any council office post box or unattended reception point.

Several new rules have recently been introduced for postal voting, including new re-application requirements – for more information, please visit our page on voting by post.

Alternatively, you can apply to allow someone you trust to vote on your behalf – this is known as a proxy vote. Please note – applications for a standard proxy vote in this election have now closed.

Apply for an emergency proxy vote

In certain circumstances, where you have an emergency that means you can’t vote in person, you can apply for an emergency proxy vote.

Emergency proxy applications for this election must be made by 5pm on polling day, Thursday 4 July.

To apply, simply download and complete the relevant form from the list below and then email a scanned or photographed copy to elections@southandvale.gov.uk

Circumstances where you may be able to apply for an emergency proxy include:

• You have a medical emergency – click here to download the form
• You are away for work – click here to download the form
• Your photo ID is lost, stolen, destroyed or damaged – click here to download the form. This form can also be used if an Anonymous Elector’s Document is lost, stolen, destroyed or damaged.

For more information, visit our page on proxy voting.

Are you voting for the first time?

If this is the time you will be voting, please look at our first-time voter’s guide.  This contains lots of useful information on how elections work, how you can vote and what happens on election day.

Counting the votes and declaring the results

The votes in this election will be counted overnight immediately after polls close on Thursday 4 July.

The results will be announced as they happen on national and local media and will also be published on this page and on our social media channels.

Information for candidates and agents

Nominations for the 2024 General Election have now closed

For further information, please see the guidance for candidates and agents on the Electoral Commission website.

Candidate expenses spending limits

• Candidate expenses limit – Didcot and Wantage constituency
• Candidate expenses limit – Oxford West and Abingdon constituency

Election notices

We we’ll publish the election notices here, as required:

Didcot and Wantage constituency:

• Notice of Election – Didcot and Wantage
• Notice of Election Agents – Didcot and Wantage
• Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll – Didcot and Wantage
• Situation of Polling Stations – Didcot and Wantage

Oxford West and Abingdon constituency:

• Notice of Election – Oxford West and Abingdon
• Notice of Election Agents – Oxford West and Abingdon
• Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll – Oxford West and Abingdon
• Situation of Polling Stations – Oxford West and Abingdon

Witney constituency

• Notice of Election – Witney
• Notice of Election Agents – Witney
• Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll – Witney
• Situation of Polling Stations – Witney