Exeter’s electors go to the polls on Thursday 4 July to elect two new members of parliament to send to the House of Commons on their behalf.
One will represent residents in the Exeter constituency, the boundaries of which have changed since the last general election, and another those in the new Exmouth & Exeter East constituency.
Everyone registered to vote should by now have received a poll card which says where to find their polling station. Electors who vote in person can only cast their ballots at the polling station specified on this card.
Polling stations will be open from 7am to 10pm. There are 45 polling stations in the Exeter constituency and 62 in the Exmouth & Exeter East constituency.
The Sylvania Hall polling station has been moved to Stoke Hill Junior School and the polling station that was in the Rennes House community room has been moved to St Boniface Church in Brookway.
Postal voting ballots have also been sent out to the 11,500 Exeter voters and the Exmouth & Exeter East voters who applied to vote this way at these elections.
You can find out more about the seven candidates who are standing for election in Exeter and the eight candidates who are standing for election in Exmouth & Exeter East below.
A two year-long review of UK parliamentary constituency boundaries came into law in November last year.
It left the boundaries of only 65 of 650 constituencies unchanged, with some increasing and some decreasing in size to bring the number of registered voters in each constituency (except five island seats) to within 5% of the specified “electoral quota” of 73,393 electors.
The Exeter constituency is now 11% smaller than before. Previously, all Exeter City Council’s local electoral wards formed the parliamentary constituency except parts of Priory, St Loye’s and Topsham (although few people lived in the section of Priory that was over the border, much of which consists of Ludwell Valley Park).
The constituency’s eastern boundary has been moved westwards so it now excludes all three wards entirely. As a result about 9,000 Exeter electors have joined the newly-created Exmouth & Exeter East constituency.
The creation of Exmouth & Exeter East has also involved the reassignment of a large area on the eastern flank of the previous East Devon constituency to a new Honiton and Sidmouth constituency.
This is also comprised of the southern half of what was the Tiverton and Honiton constituency.
Any voter who arrives at their polling station before 10pm and is in a queue waiting to vote at 10pm will be able to vote.
On entering the polling station you (or your proxy) can show your poll card to the staff, or tell them your name and address instead. They will confirm whether you are on the electoral register.
You will then receive a ballot paper on which you can cast your vote by marking a cross next to the candidate you want to support in one of the available polling booths, before folding your ballot paper and placing it in a ballot box.
If you make a mistake you can ask polling station staff for a replacement ballot paper.
You do not need a poll card to vote, provided you are on the electoral register. However you now need to produce an accepted form of photo ID to vote in person.
UK passports, driving licenses, blue badges and some concessionary travel passes qualify, as do voter authority certificates.
You may choose to present your photo ID to polling station staff in private. If you wear a face covering for any reason, you will be asked to remove it so polling station staff can check your ID. You may request that a female member of staff performs this check.
If your photo ID is refused, or you arrive at a polling station without an accepted form of photo ID, you will be asked to return with acceptable ID.
Proxy voters – registered voters who have been appointed to vote on behalf of another elector – must also vote at the specified polling station unless they have instead made arrangements to vote by post.
They must also produce an accepted form of photo ID to verify their identity, but do not need to verify the identity of the elector(s) on whose behalf they are voting.
The deadline for proxy vote registrations has passed, however you may be able to apply to vote by emergency proxy due to unforeseen medical or employment circumstances, in which case your application to do so must be submitted by 5pm on polling day.
Applications for replacement spoilt or lost postal votes can also be submitted until 5pm on polling day.
New regulations apply to handing in postal votes in person instead of sending them via Royal Mail.
No elector may hand in more than five postal votes in addition to their own and anyone who hands in postal votes must complete a form with their name, address and the reason for handing in additional postal votes, if applicable.
They will also have to complete a declaration and confirm that they are not a political campaigner (to whom additional rules apply).
Postal votes can be handed in at any polling station in the electoral area on polling day. Exeter electors can also be hand in postal votes to an authorised person at Exeter City Council’s office reception in Paris Street during opening hours, from 9am-2pm on weekdays.
The rules regarding the return of postal votes via Royal Mail remain unchanged. In any case they must arrive by 10pm on polling day.
