Bath & North East Somerset voters are being reminded about boundary changes which come into force at the July 4 General Election.
The changes have been introduced since the last General Election in 2019 following a Parliamentary Boundary Review.
Bath & North East Somerset Council now covers three parliamentary constituencies: the whole constituency of Bath, the whole constituency of North East Somerset and Hanham (which also includes part of South Gloucestershire Council) and part of the constituency of Frome and East Somerset.
The Bath and the North East Somerset and Hanham constituencies are administered by B&NES Council.
The Frome and East Somerset constituency, which in addition to a Somerset Council area also includes Midsomer Norton, Radstock, Westfield, Peasedown St John and the parishes in Bathavon South (Camerton, Claverton, Combe Hay, Dunkerton, Tunley, Englishcombe, Freshford, Hinton Charterhouse, Marksbury, Monkton Combe, Priston, Shoscombe, South Stoke and Wellow), is administered by Somerset Council.
The maps of the new constituencies can be found at: https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/2023-review/2023-review-volume-three-maps/page/8/
The list of candidates for the Frome and East Somerset constituency can be viewed on the Somerset Council website. The Journal will also be including a full list of Somerset candidates in a fortnight.
In order to vote you must be a British, Irish or Commonwealth citizen (including Maltese and Cypriot), and your name must be on the electoral register. EU citizens are not entitled to vote at UK parliamentary general elections. If you are not on the electoral register at your current address, you must be registered to vote by midnight on Tuesday, June 18. Voters who were registered to vote from the previous election should have received their polling cards in the post in the last week.
Voters can do so in person, by post or by appointing someone they trust to vote on their behalf, known as a proxy vote. The deadline to apply for a postal vote is 5pm on Wednesday, June 26. Applications to cast a postal vote can be found online at gov.uk/apply-postal-vote.
The deadline to apply for a proxy vote is 5pm on Wednesday, June 26 – you can apply online at gov.uk/apply-proxy-vote.
If voting in person at the polling station, you will be required to show an accepted form of photo ID to the polling station staff. The full list of accepted forms of ID can be found at https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/voter-id/accepted-forms-photo-id. Please note that the B&NES Discovery Card is not an accepted form of ID at polling stations
For help with electoral registration, or to find out whether you are on the electoral roll, contact the B&NES electoral registration team on 01225 47733 or email: [email protected]