Everything you need to know about Swindon local elections today

Elections are being held in Swindon on Thursday for councillors to sit on Swindon Borough Council, and for Swindon and Wiltshire’s Police & Crime Commissioner.

Swindon Borough Council elections

There are 20 seats in 19 wards up for grabs at this election. In 18 of those wards, voters will have one vote in the usual fashion.

Voters in Wroughton & Wichelstowe will have two votes, one for the seat coming up after four years in the normal fashion and one for the vacant seat caused by the resignation of the sitting councillor two years into his term.

READ MORE: All the councillors standing in this year's Swindon elections

PCC election

Voters will have one vote in the election of the PCC. There are four candidates.

The current PCC, Conservative Philip Wilkinson, is standing to be re-elected after he was chosen for the role in 2021. Mike Rees is standing again as an independent, after he came second last time, and they will be challenged by Liberal Democrat Allan Hagger and Labour candidate Stanka Adamcova, the vice-xhairman of Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel.

Where to vote

Polling stations around the borough will be open at 7am and close at 10pm.

You can only vote in person at your designated polling station. Your poll card will tell you where it is.

If you have lost that  you can find your polling station on a search tool at   https://www.swindon.gov.uk/info/20073/elections_and_voting/937/forthcoming_elections

While the polling stations close at 10pm, if there is a queue at yours and you are in the queue before 10pm you should still be allowed to vote.

DON’T forget your photo ID

If you want to vote in person, you MUST have one of a number of agreed forms of photo ID – most common will be a passport, or driving licence, proof of age card or a senior travel card.

Expired card, where the photograph still looks like you will be accepted.

A full list of acceptable forms of ID is available at the council’s elections webpage.

Postal votes

If you have a postal vote but have forgotten to post it, you can take it to the polling station as long as you can get it there by 10pm.

Emergency proxy votes

You can apply to have someone vote of your behalf if you are taken ill, away for work reasons or have lost your voter ID, after the proxy deadline. The deadline for an emergency proxy is 5pm on polling day.

You can apply using https://www.swindon.gov.uk/downloads/file/7012/emergency_disability_proxy_vote_application_form

Voting

Vote by making a clear X in the box next to the candidate you choose. Any other mark could result in your vote not being counted.

It is not permitted to take photographs inside the polling station, so keep the selfies for outside.

All animals excluding guide dogs should be left outside the polling station.

Counting and results

Swindon Borough Council will verify and then count the votes on Friday, May 3.

Results should all be announced by late afternoon.

Wiltshire Council will verify and count the votes in the PCC election on Saturday, with a result being expected towards the end of the afternoon.