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Are you ready to vote this May?
On Thursday 7th May 2026, there are local council elections taking place in Southampton, Hampshire, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. These elections will decide which councillors are elected to be part of local councils. This page will tell you why these elections are important, how you can find out more about who you can vote for and how to vote.
What do councillors do?
Councillors represent your area, also called a ‘ward’, listening to problems residents are having and helping to get them fixed, as well as advocating for your area to improve, maintain or develop new services in it.
Council wards can be quite small, for example, there are 17 wards in Southampton alone, so anyone standing to become a councillor should have good knowledge of the area and the things that could do with improving.
Examples of a counsellor at work
A councillor has been told by residents in their ward that there are a few bad potholes on their roads which haven’t been fixed. The councillor then talks to the the highways department of the council, making them aware of the problem it is causing and asking for them to be filled in quickly.
The council has some money to build a new playpark and your councillor puts forward a case for why your ward would be a good place for it to be built.
The local bus company are considering shutting of a route going through a councillor’s ward. Lots of residents get in touch with them to ask them to help keep it open. The councillor meets the bus company and uses the residents’ voices to get them to keep the route running.
Polling day
Polling day is the day where you vote for who you want to be on the council. All polling stations are open from 7am until 10pm. You can go to vote at any time and as long as you’re in the queue by 10pm, you will be allowed to vote.
To vote, you need to be registered to vote and take a valid form of ID with you.
Are you registered to vote?
Anyone wanting to vote in any election must be on the electoral register. The deadline to register for this election is 11:59pm, Monday 20th April.
To register to vote, go to gov.uk/register-to-vote.
Once you are registered to vote, you can also apply for any of the following:
– Postal vote (deadline 5pm, Tuesday 21st April)
– Proxy vote (deadline 5pm, Tuesday 21st April)
– Voter ID (deadline 5pm, Tuesday 28th April)
Valid forms of ID for voting include
– A UK / Northern Ireland driving licence (full or provisional)
– A driving licence issued by a European Union country or Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands
– A UK passport
– A passport issued by a European Union country or Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or a commonwealth country
– A Blue Badge
– A PASS card (National Proof of Age Standards Scheme)
– A national identity card issued by the EU, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein
– A Voter Authority Certificate
Which ward do I live in and who can I vote for?
You can find out which ward you live in by going to the Electoral Commission website in the button below and entering your postcode. When you enter your postcode, it will tell you which ward you are in, which candidates are standing for election, and where your polling station is.
When viewing the candidates, there will also be a link to the Who Can I Vote For website, where you can find links to each candidate’s website and social media pages, helping you to find out more about them and what they or their party say they will do to help the local area. If any candidates don’t have any links, it might be because they don’t have a website or social media, or they haven’t been added, so it is worth a Google to see if you can find out any more.
Who can I vote forWho should I vote for?
When choosing a candidate to vote for, think about any information you’ve managed to find and who you think will do the best job at representing your local area, helping to improve things. Depending on the size of your ward, you may be able to vote for more than one councillor, and there may be more than one elected.
It is up to you to decide who you vote for and you shouldn’t vote for a candidate because someone else has told you to.
You also don’t have to tell anyone who you voted for, or even if you voted at all.