Update for candidates and agents
Welcome to the latest edition of Local Elections 2025 – Update for candidates and agents. In this edition you will find information on:
- Notice of Election
- Pre-election guidance for town and parish councils
- Don’t delay – book your nominations appointment today
- Key election dates
- Poll cards being sent out
Notice of election
The Notice of Election has been published on the Wiltshire Council website and can be found at Local elections.
We have requested that town and parish clerks print and display the notices for their local areas. The Parish Notices and nominations list will tell you which notice has your electoral area in it.
Pre-election period guidance for town and parish councils
Now that the Notice of Election has been formally published we are in the pre-election period until 2 May. Guidance aimed at town and parish councils has been developed by the Director of Legal and Governance at Wiltshire Council in collaboration with the Local Council Advisor at the Wiltshire Association of Local Councils (WALC), which you may find useful.
Don’t delay, book your nominations appointment today
A reminder that the booking system to enable you to bring in nomination forms is now live so please book a slot as early as possible.
In order to use the booking system, please create a ‘MyWilts’ account on the website.
Nominations can be delivered to the relevant council office for the electoral area you are standing in/putting up candidates in. The booking system will automatically tell you which office is relevant to your electoral area when you book.
There are two separate appointment forms, one for booking a single appointment for one nomination paper, and one to book an appointment to bring in multiple nomination papers. You can book to bring up to five nomination papers for one multiple appointment. You have until 4pm on 2 April to deliver your nomination forms.
Top tips for completing nomination papers:
- The checklist at the front of your nomination paper is a handy tool to ensure you have completed the form as required. Remember you should submit all of the pages of the form, even the legislation.
- Check your dates! The earliest a nomination can be signed is 2 March 2025.
- Check your subscribers’ electoral registration numbers. Our customer services team is happy to confirm electoral registration numbers if you call 0300 456 0112 with the full name and address of your subscribers. More information on subscribers can be found on the Electoral Commission website.
- Double check you are using the correct form. For election to Wiltshire Council, you must use the form for ‘Local Government’ elections. For election to a parish, town or city council you must use the form for ‘Parish’ elections.
- You can watch our candidate and agent webinar for more helpful information on completing your nomination.
- We’d like to remind you that if you bring in multiple nomination papers, please bring in contact information for each individual candidate so that we are able to email them regarding the status of their nomination paper.
If you have any other questions about the booking system please contact us on 0300 456 0112.
Key election dates
We have been reminding residents of the key dates to be aware of to ensure they are ready to vote on 1 May. They include:
- People have until midnight on Friday 11 April to register to vote if they’re not already registered – https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
- People have until 5pm on Monday 14 April to apply for a postal vote – https://www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote.
- People have until 5pm on Monday 14 to change or cancel an existing postal or proxy vote.
- People have until 5pm on Wednesday 23 April to apply for a new proxy vote (for someone to vote on their behalf) – https://www.gov.uk/apply-proxy-vote.
- People have until 5pm on Wednesday 23 April if they want to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate (if they don’t have photo ID) – https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate
- Polls are open on Thursday 1 May from 7am – 10pm
- Election results confirmed Friday 2 – Saturday 3 May
Here is a link to a graphic for you to download which contains the above information. Please feel free to promote this information locally.
Here is a link to a press release we issued earlier in the week to ensure people have all the info they need: Wiltshire Council preparing for upcoming local elections in May – Wiltshire Council
Poll cards being sent out
We have been encouraging residents to keep an eye for their poll cards for the local elections which have been sent out this week. Although poll cards are not needed to vote they do contain useful information such as details on the polling stations and voter ID.
The polling station postcode checker can be found at Find your polling station | Where Do I Vote?
More information
Please keep an eye on our two local election pages Local elections and Information for candidates. As information about the election becomes available, we will be publishing it here.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact candidates@wiltshire.gov.uk rather than respond directly to this email.͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
