Your guide to casting your vote correctly in the forthcoming general election

When you arrive at your local polling place, you may be asked to present your polling card, and you may also be asked for proof of identity, such as a passport or a driving licence.

Officials will then give you a stamped ballot paper, which will list in alphabetical order every candidate running for election in your area. For the sake of illustration, let’s say there are 15 people on the ballot, but do bear in mind that this is only an example.

Each candidate’s name, their photograph, and their political party (if they belong to one) will be on the ballot. If they are not running for a party, they will be listed as ‘non-party’.

Pencils will be provided, but you may bring your own pencil or pen.

Filling out your vote, you rank the candidates by putting a ‘1’ next to your first preference to be elected, and then a ‘2’ next to your second preference, ‘3’ next to your third choice, and so on down the line, to whichever candidate is your final choice.

You don’t have to give a preference — a number — to every single candidate, and most people don’t. 

In June’s local elections, most voters picked between three and seven candidates. However, putting numbers next to candidates is how your vote will transfer from one candidate to another.

Preferences

Some people pick just one candidate, giving them a ‘1’ and leaving it at that, while others go down a few preferences. 

On the other extreme, some voters give preferences to every candidate on the ballot, in this example, going from ‘1’ all the way down to ‘15’ for the final candidate they would like to see elected. 

Some even start with the candidate they least want to see elected by giving them a ‘15’ and working back up to ‘1’. Whatever way you do it, be sure to use every number between your first preference, ‘1’ and — in this, illustrative, case — ‘15’, or your vote will not, in both senses of the word, count.

The exception to the rule of voting in numbers, or preferences, is in referendums, where you are asked a binary question, to which the answer is ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, and then you are asked to put an ‘X’ beside the answer you wish to give.

In an election, however, remember not to put an ‘X’ or a tick next to a candidate, as this will spoil your vote and makes it invalid, meaning your vote won’t be counted, and your voice won’t be heard.

If you make a mistake with your ballot paper, the returning officer may, at their discretion, give you another ballot paper. However, if you have put the paper in the ballot box, they cannot give you another ballot paper. 

When you have filled in your ballot paper, fold it in half, so your vote cannot be seen, and place it in the ballot box.

Spoiled votes

• Ballot papers that cannot be counted are called spoiled votes. Your ballot paper may be spoiled if:
• You left the ballot paper blank.
• You ticked your candidate or candidates, rather than numbering them.
• Your ballot paper did not have the number ‘1’ or the word ‘one’ next to any candidate.
• Your writing on the ballot paper could not be understood.
• The order of your preference was not clear. For instance, if you wrote ‘1’ next to more than one different candidates.
• Your ballot paper was not stamped by the returning officer.
• Your wrote your name or in some other way identified yourself on the ballot paper.
• You deliberately spoiled your paper as a protest.