20 April 2021

Tens of thousands applied to register to vote on election deadline day

20 April 2021

Nearly 90,000 people applied to register to vote on Monday, as the deadline arrived to take part in next month’s elections.

A total of 88,225 applications were submitted, according to Government figures.

This is the largest volume submitted on a single day so far this year – though it is well below the 659,666 applications on deadline day for the 2019 general election.

It is now too late to register to vote in the elections on May 6, which will see millions of people head to the polls across Great Britain in the first major set of contests since the coronavirus pandemic.

For people wanting to use a postal vote in the elections, the deadline for applications in England and Wales is today – April 20.

The deadline for postal votes in Scotland has already passed.

Some 34% of applications to register to vote submitted on Monday were from people under 25, while a further 34% were aged 25 to 34.

Just 3% were from people aged 65 to 74, with 1% from people aged 75 and over.

The parliamentary elections taking place in Wales on May 6 are the first in which 16 and 17-year-olds can take part.

Voters in Scotland aged 16 and 17 have been able to vote in elections since 2016, while in England the minimum voting age is still 18.

POLITICS Voting (PA Graphics)

A huge number of elections are taking place across Britain on “Super Thursday” – May 6 – including some that were postponed from 2020 because of Covid-19.

Voters in both Wales and Scotland will be choosing new parliaments.

In London there will be elections for the mayor and assembly, which were originally due to take place last year.

Across the rest of England, voters will be choosing a mixture of councillors, local mayors, regional mayors and police commissioners.

There is also a parliamentary by-election to choose a new MP for the seat of Hartlepool.

The scale of Super Thursday means that every voter in Great Britain will be able to take part in at least one type of poll, making it the biggest event of its kind outside a general election.

It will also be the first big electoral test for Sir Keir Starmer since he became Labour leader in April 2020, and for Prime Minister Boris Johnson since his general election victory in December 2019.

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