General Election 2010 Who can vote? How does the system work?

Who can vote? The people who can vote will be:  British citizens aged 18 or over (except Lords, people with extreme mental illness, people in prison, people who have cheated in an election);  Citizens of the Irish Republic and Commonwealth countries who are aged 18 or over and meet certain residency requirements.

Registering to vote Every year, the local councils all over the UK send out forms to every household in October. The names of every person who is 17 and above has to be written on this form. The information on these forms is used to make up the ‘Electoral Register’ in the area. If you move house after the date, you can let the Council know and be included on the register. It is against the law for people NOT be on the electoral register.

Where to vote? The council will send you a card just before an election. This is called a polling card. The card tells you where and when to vote. Public buildings like schools, leisure centres and church halls are used to vote it. They become ‘Polling Stations’ for the day.

On the election day… On election day, voters go to the polling station. The polling station is usually a school, local hall or public building near where you live. Polling is another word for voting. They are usually open from 7am to 10pm on the day of a General Election.

At the polling station… They tell the people at the polling station their name and address. They can take their polling card to show who they are. The people at the polling station will give them a list of the people you can vote for. This is called a ballot paper.

How to vote They go into a polling booth and put an X by the name of the person or party they want to vote for. The top of the ballot paper tells people how many votes they can make.

Casting votes… They then fold the ballot paper and put it in the ballot box. If people know they cannot get to vote this way, they can ask to vote by a postal vote or ask someone they trust to go and vote for them – a proxy vote. These both have to be organised and agreed before the day.

The Count Votes from the area are then taken to a centre in the area where all votes are counted. Once the votes have been counted, the person in charge of elections in the area (the ‘Presiding Officer’) announces the winner of the election.

Thinking How easy do you think it is to vote? Where do you think your local polling station is?

If you want to find out more… The Hansard Society: Heads Up: The Electoral Commission: The Department for Children, Schools and Families: Association for Citizenship Teaching: Citizenship Foundation: British Youth Council: Operation Black Vote: Electoral Reform Society: UK Parliament: UK Youth Parliament: Catch 21: UK Office of the European Parliament: