Your voting rights

It’s important to know your legal rights when voting in person.

Your right to privacy 

At a polling station, only the poll clerk can check your photo Voter ID or Voter Authority Certificate. They can only show it to other people if they ask you first. The only exception is when your photo ID is challenged, in which case a clerk must show it to the person in charge (called the presiding officer). 

If you ask to show your photo ID privately, no one but you and the officer / clerk can see it. This means taking you to a private area of the polling station. Each polling station has a private space just for this.

Your right to try again 

If you're refused at a polling station because your photo Voter ID hasn’t been accepted, you have the right to try again with a different accepted form of photo ID. You can do this with as many forms of photo Voter ID as you want.

Reasons for refusal must be recorded 

If the officer at the polling station refuses to give you a ballot paper, they must record your electoral number and the reason for the refusal.