Registration

Local elections for members of the City Council will be taking place on 5th May this year. Also on the 5th May, there will be a referendum on whether to change the voting system used to elect Members of Parliament (MPs). To be able to vote in the local elections you must be either a British citizen living in the UK, a Commonwealth citizen living in the UK, a citizen of the Irish Republic living in the UK or a European Union citizen living in the UK and you must also be registered to vote.

You should have filled out an Electoral Register Form when you first moved into your house. However, if you haven’t registered, or if you are unsure, you should fill in this form here and return it to the address at the bottom of the form by the 14th April.

If you have not registered to vote by the 14th April then you will not be able to vote in the local elections or the referendum on whether to "adopt the 'alternative vote' system instead of the current 'first past the post' system for electing Members of Parliament to the House of Commons".

In local elections students can vote both at home and in Sheffield. To vote at home as well as in Sheffield you will also need to register at your home address with your home local authority. To find out if there are also elections for your Council at home see here. For the referendum however, please only vote once – either at home or in Sheffield but not at both. Although students from the EU or Commonwealth can vote in the local elections they cannot vote in the referendum.

If you are going to be in Sheffield on polling day but you want to vote at home too, you can apply for a postal vote to vote in your home elections. Likewise if you’re going to be at home but want to vote in Sheffield you can vote in Sheffield by applying for a postal vote. To apply for a postal vote you must fill in this form and return it to the relevant council by the 14th April.

Polling cards should be delivered to your house by the time the Easter break begins (8th April). If you haven’t received your polling card by then, this probably means that you are not registered. If you realise you are not registered but you still want to vote, fill in this form and make sure it arrives at the council before 14th April.