Voting and elections - frequently asked questions

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

This is a government website and the online form only takes a few minutes to complete. You will need to have your national insurance number to hand to complete the process. Each person should complete the online form individually.

You are required to provide your date of birth and national insurance number to confirm your identity and to prevent fraud.

British citizens, Irish citizens and qualifying Commonwealth citizens (including those from Cyprus and Malta) can register to vote in all elections.

You can register to vote at 16, but you can’t vote until you’re 18.

Citizens of other EU member states resident in the UK can vote in local government elections but not in UK Parliamentary elections. EU citizens can also choose to vote in European Parliamentary elections in the UK rather than in their home country but must make a special request to do this.

The open register is a version of the electoral register that can be purchased by anyone. It may be used by businesses or charities to confirm name and address details.

Your name will be included on the open register unless you ask for it to be removed.

If you want to request that your name is removed from the open register, please email your request (including your name and address) to open-register@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

If you are unable to get to your polling station on polling day you can apply to vote by post, or you can appoint someone to vote on your behalf as proxy.

Follow the link for more information about postal and proxy votes.

If someone has moved out of your address, you can let us know by emailing us at: electoral-register@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

We will only use the information you give us for electoral purposes. We will look after personal information securely and follow the Data Protection Act 1998. We will not give personal information about you and the other people in your household to anyone else or another organisation unless we have to by law.

The electoral register may be used for certain specified purposes including:

Political parties and election candidates are entitled to receive a copy of the electoral register and may use it for electoral purposes

Credit reference agencies may purchase a copy of the electoral register and may use it for credit checking purposes

The Jury Summoning Bureau may use it for selecting people for jury service

It may also be used for detecting crime (including fraud)

Yes, the electoral register is available for public inspection. It can be viewed under supervision in the Central Library (Guildhall Square) at the History Centre on the 2nd floor.

The register is not published in name order. It is published by electoral ward and then lists voters in each polling station sub-division in address order.

Please view our basic ward map (below) to find out which council ward you are in, or find your councillors, MP or MEP.