Do I need to register to vote for UK general election? How to register, deadline and voter ID explained

On 4 July, voters will go to the polls to decide whether Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer will become the next Prime Minister, and who will represent them as an MP in Parliament. It’s the first general election in four and a half years, and there might not be another election until 2029.

To vote, you have to have registered and you also need to bring an acceptable form of photo ID with you to the polling station. It is thought around four million young people haven’t registered to vote, despite being eligible.

How do you register to vote and which voter ID is acceptable? Here’s everything you need to know.

Do I need to register to vote?

Everyone in the UK has to be registered in order to vote on 4 July, however if you have previously registered at your current address you will be able to vote in general election and you do not need to re-register. If you have moved house or have not previously registered to vote at your current address you will need to register to vote.

How do I register to vote?

Voters have until 11.59pm on 18 June to register to vote, and you can easily do that on the government’s website here. You just need to know your national insurance number and your address.

Substantial demographic inequalities in voter registration

There are substantial demographic inequalities in terms of the number of people who are registered to vote, Electoral Commission figures show. In particular, young people are far less likely to be registered than older people, which may explain the Conservatives’ targeting of pensioners with their policies.

Only 60% of 18 and 19 year olds are registered compared with 96% of over 65s. Private renters are also far less likely to be registered than homeowners.

Willie Sullivan, senior director at the Electoral Reform Society, said: “The number of applications to register is being dwarfed by the amount of people missing from our electoral roles. This means a huge effort is needed to avoid millions of people being locked out of being able to have their say in the general election.

"Participation is a vital sign of the health of our democracy, so it is crucial that as many people as possible are able to vote on July 4. We are urging anyone still unregistered to take the time over the next week to register ahead of the deadline next Tuesday.

“We are also calling on whoever is in government after 4 July to bring in Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) to make sure we are not in the scandalous situation again of having millions of people unable to vote due to being unregistered.

Voter ID to disenfranchise millions, poll finds

New polling has found that millions of people could be prevented from voting due to lack of public awareness of new voter ID regulations. A huge Best for Britain MRP poll of more than 15,000 people, undertaken by Survation, found that 16% of respondents don’t know about new voter ID rules. This equates to around five million voters.

The data shows that in particular young people are unaware of the voter ID rules, with more than one in four 18 to 24-year-olds in the dark about the need to bring photo ID with them to the polling station. This compares with just 6% of over 65s.

A high level of confusion was also recorded among minority ethnic groups including one in four (26%) Asian/Asian British respondents, 23% of those who are Black/African/Caribbean/Black British and 22% of those who identified as mixed/multiple ethnic groups. NationalWorld previously reported that the government knew that disabled, LGBTQ+, and unemployed people could all be disproportionately disenfranchised by the introduction of voter ID, but pushed ahead with it anyway.

What are the Voter ID rules?

In April 2022, MPs passed a new law making voter ID mandatory. The move is highly controversial, with widespread concerns that many could find themselves disenfranchised because they do not own ID.

The introduction of voter ID is designed to prevent voter personation, the crime of impersonating someone else when voting. But the Electoral Reform Society says the crime is “vanishingly rare” – there were only three convictions and six cautions between 2015 and 2020, according to the Electoral Commission – and that photo ID is a “solution looking for a problem”.

This will be the first general election to require voter ID, so people will need to bring specific photo ID to vote on 4 July. The ID does not need to be in date, but the photo will need to be a true likeness. It will be up to polling station clerks to judge whether your ID looks like you.

The full list is as follows:

• A passport issued by the UK, any Channel Island, Isle of Man, a British Overseas Territory, a European Economic Area (EEA) state or a Commonwealth country
• A driving licence issued by the UK, any Channel Island, Isle of Man, a British Overseas Territory, or a European Economic Area (EEA) state
• A disabled person’s bus pass
• An Oyster 60+ card
• A freedom pass
• A Scottish National Entitlement Card
• A 60 and over Welsh concessionary travel card
• A disabled person’s Welsh concessionary travel card
• A senior smartpass issued in Northern Ireland
• A registered blind smartpass or blind person’s smartpass issued in Northern Ireland
• A War disablement smart pass issued in Northern Ireland
• A 60+ smartpass issued in Northern Ireland
• A 60+ smartpass issued in Northern Ireland
• A half fare smartpass issued in Northern Ireland
• An identity card bearing the Proof of Age Standards Scheme hologram (a PASS card)
• A biometric immigration document 
• A Ministry of Defence form 90 (defence identity card)
• A national identity card issued by an EEA state
• An electoral identity card issued in Northern Ireland
• An anonymous elector’s document

How to apply for voter authority certificate

If you do not own any of the IDs that are on the approved list then you will be able to apply for a free voter authority certificate (VAC), which will be issued by your local council.

This will be accepted as your ID by polling staff. You can apply for a free VAC document online via the UK government website by following this link. You must first be registered to vote, and the name on your VAC should match the name that appears on the electoral roll.

You will need to supply your name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number if you have one, and a passport-style photo. You do not need to state your gender, and the VAC will not show this. The deadline for this is 5pm on 26 June.

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.