Yellow background with the words General Election Thursday 4 July 2024

General Election

A General Election was called for Thursday 4 July 2024 where people in every part of the UK can vote for their MP (Member of Parliament) who will represent their local area in the House of Commons for up to five years.


DAYS


HOURS


MINUTES


SECONDS

So, how can you get involved and prepare for the vote? Keep reading to find out!

Key Dates

18 June Voter Registration
Deadline

19 June Postal Vote
Deadline

26 June Proxy Vote
Deadline

4 July
7am–10pm Election
Day

Am I Eligible To Vote?

To be eligible to vote and therefore able to register to vote you must be:

  • A UK or Irish citizen
  • A qualifying Commonwealth Citizen living in the UK
  • An EU citizen living in the UK
  • Aged 16 or over (but you can’t vote until you’re 18 years old)

To learn more about eligibility:

Visit the Electoral Commission Website

I am not a British citizen. Can I register to vote?

There are a variety of different rules for voter eligibility if you are not a British Citizen. You can use the 'Can I Vote' tool find out which elections you can vote in:

Can I Vote Website

Register To Vote!

Registering at multiple addresses

As a student, you can be registered to vote at your home and term time addresses, but you can only vote in one of these locations. So, make sure you know which voting location you are going to on the day.

Register To Vote

Deadline To Vote

There are different deadlines for registration, but regardless of how you intend to vote you’ll need to register to vote online by 11:59pm on 18 June.

Voting

Voting In-person

Don’t forget your Voter ID!

Once you’ve registered to vote, you will receive your ballot card at your registered address. Take time to explore the candidates and consider their party manifestos. Your polling card confirms that you’ll be able to vote at your local polling station on 4 July.

You will need to bring a form of photo ID, this includes:

  • Your passport
  • Provisional or Full driver’s license
  • Voter ID Authority Certificate
    • You’ll need to apply by 5pm on 26 June 2024 to get a Voter Authority Certificate for the General Election on 4 July 2024.
  • Voter ID Citizen Card
    • NUS has teamed up with Citizen Card, meaning students can get a voter ID card for free up until 20 June 2024. After this date you can still get a Citizen Card but there will be a charge to ensure that the card arrives with you in time for the election.

View Full List of Valid ID

Make sure you are confident that the ID you are bringing with you to vote is noted on this webpage.

Where do I vote?

You can use the tool on the Where Do I Vote website to find out the location of your polling station:

Where Do I Vote

This information will also be provided to you on your polling card, which will be delivered to your address prior to 4 July.

Not Voting In-person

Apply for a proxy or postal vote

If you can’t vote in-person, or you’re likely to experience changes to your address owing to moving house, we recommend you either:

Apply for a Proxy Vote

Where you nominate someone to vote on your behalf.

You’ll need to apply by 5pm on 26 June to vote by proxy in the General Election on 4 July.

Gov UK Proxy Vote Details

Apply for a Postal Vote

Where you can vote via post by registering for a postal vote.

You’ll need to apply by 5pm on 19 June 2024 to get a postal vote for the General Election on 4 July 2024.

Gov UK Postal Vote Details

Remember, your voting forms will arrive at your registered voting address. So, you will need to make sure you consider what your address will be before and on polling day and how you will access them.

Please note, you must be registered to vote first to apply for either of these voting methods.

Register To Vote

Key Information for Students and Student Groups

You can see the latest details of candidates by postcode on the Where Do I Vote website:

Where Do I Vote

What issues are impacting students in 2024?

Russell Group Students’ Unions (of which the Guild of Students’ is a part of) have launched their student manifesto, calling on the Government to prioritise students ahead of the next general election.

The Manifesto highlights that students across the UK are struggling:

  • 1 in 4 regularly go without food or basic necessities because they cannot afford them (RGSU, 2023).
  • Rent now accounts for almost 100% of the average student maintenance loan in England (HEPI, 2023).
  • Home students in England who graduated last year (2022/23) had student loan debts three times higher than students graduating in 2009 (HEPI, 2023)

You can learn more about the manifesto and other issues students are facing:

View Russell Group Manifesto

Groups can support student involvement in educational political activity.

  • In other words, encourage students to register to vote and encourage them to cast their vote.
  • Although they cannot tell members to cast their vote for a particular party or candidate.

You can state the matter-of-fact views of a party on issues in the General Election.

  • Although you cannot compare the views of the political parties/candidates directly.
  • In other words, you can state that ‘x’ party holds ‘y’ view, but you cannot say ‘x’ party holds ‘y’ view and this is better or worse than ‘z’ party.
  • You should make sure that any such statements are reasonably evidenced from credible sources.

No direct societies funding should be used for political campaigning

All of the above also applies to student political groups.

  • Student Political Groups can outline the views of the relevant party and provide information about the party and their manifestos and candidates to students, as this is educational.
  • They cannot however directly ask for students to vote for that political party.
  • They can outline the views of their party and state matter of fact, the views of other parties but cannot contrast their views to be better or worse than that of the other party.

Your Officer Team 2024-2025

View Officer Hub

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