Voter ID requirements

Voters in England need to show an accepted form of photographic identification in order to receive their ballot paper(s) to cast their vote at a polling station for local elections and referendums, recall petitions and Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Voter ID will be required at UK Parliamentary General Elections from October 2023.  Electors who do not hold any of the accepted forms of photo ID will be able to apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate.

(Please note that these new requirements will not affect electors who vote by post.)

For full details of the new requirements including which forms of ID are acceptable and how to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate please follow the link below:

Voter ID | Electoral Commission

We have produced a list of frequently asked questions about Voter ID at polling stations.

From 4 May 2023 electors voting in polling stations were required to show a valid form of photographic ID before being issued with a ballot paper. As part of the implementation of the new requirements, a data collection exercise was undertaken by all polling stations and the data collected has been shared with the Electoral Commission. The Electoral Commission has advised that the following information relating to the polling stations across the Newcastle City Council area should be published:

1. The total number of electors who were eligible to vote in person at our 123 polling stations on 4 May 2023 was 116,281
2. The total number of electors who were issued a ballot paper in the polling station on 4 May 2023 was 20,404
3. The number of electors not initially issued with a ballot paper because of Voter ID requirements was 228
4. The number of electors who later returned with acceptable ID and were issued with a ballot paper was 143
5. The breakdown of voters issued with a ballot paper and those who were not is as follows: 

• 99.58% of those eligible to vote and attending a polling station on 4 May 2023 were issued a ballot paper.
• 1.12% of those attending the polling stations were initially refused a ballot paper – 62.7% of these later returned with the correct ID and were issued a ballot paper.