Vote early, vote from home, vote by post

The first election I was eligible to vote in was the 2005 General Election. While I have had many reasons to visit them over the years which have followed, either as a polling agent or a candidate, I honestly think this was the last time I voted at a polling station. Instead, for the last 16–soon to be 17–years I have always voted by post.

Voting by post is more convenient, since you get a longer period to do it, and don’t risk anything coming up on the day. Differences in turnout show that people with a postal vote are far more likely to use it than those without.

For those without photo ID, it’s also a way of still being able to use your vote (although if you would still like to vote at a polling station you can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate using this link any time before 5pm on the 25th April).

For the Labour Party, we also know that anything which makes it more likely that people will vote makes it more likely that we will win. That not only means that getting a postal vote helps us by in itself increasing turnout, but also because it saves our campaigners time on Election Day going door-to-door getting people out to vote.

Around a quarter of voters in Crawley already vote by post, if you would like to join us go to https://postalvote.labour.org.uk/ to download a form (a signed copy needs to be returned to the council by 5pm on 18th April, so make sure to apply early).