Accessibility at polling stations

The following steps have been taken to help all members of our community vote in person at their polling station.

Getting to your polling station

The name and address of your polling station is on your polling card. If you have lost or misplaced your polling card, you can check our postcode look up tool which will tell you where your polling station is located.

All polling stations open at 7am and close at 10pm. If there's a queue at your polling station, you'll still be able to vote as long as you joined the queue before 10pm.

You don't need to take your poll card with you to vote.

Accessing the polling station

We aim to remove as many barriers as we can to ensure you can easily access your polling station. This includes:

• Visiting all polling stations in advance to assess them for accessibility.
• Ensuring every polling station has level access or ramp access.
• Where possible, polling stations are identified which have car parking provision so that disabled voters may park as close as possible to the polling station.
• Welcoming assistance dogs all our polling stations.

If you need extra support on polling day, please speak to a member of polling staff so they are aware of any adjustments needed to enable you to vote. They will be wearing badges to help you identify who is working at the polling station.

Information for voters

To help voters understand the voting process and how to mark their ballot paper, we provide the following at each polling station:

• A notice at the polling station providing instructions on how to vote at the election
• A notice in each polling booth providing information on how to mark the ballot paper at the election
• Large print sample copies of the ballot paper displayed inside the polling station to assist voters who are partially sighted and also voters who would like some time to look at the ballot paper before entering the polling booth
• An enlarged handheld copy of the ballot paper - we can give this to voters who are partially sighted to take into the polling booth for reference when marking their ballot paper

Help completing your ballot paper

Each polling station has the following support and/or equipment available to help voters to complete their ballot paper.

Support from a companion

A disabled person who would have difficulty marking their ballot can:

• Request the Presiding Officer to help mark their ballot paper for them. Presiding Officers are legally bound to secrecy, meaning they will not disclose how the person voted.
• Bring a friend or relative over the age of 18 with them to the polling station to assist them. This person will be able to mark your ballot paper on their behalf. They will be asked to complete a short form confirming that they have recorded the vote faithfully.

Voting aids and equipment

Every polling station will have the following equipment and support in place:

• Seating for voters who have difficuulty standing for extended periods.
• Magnifiers to increase the size of the text on a document.
• A tactile voting device. This is a device you put on top of your ballot paper which covers each option with a number (raised text and in braille) and a flap to open to mark your ballot paper.
• Wheelchair accessible polling booth.
• Pencil grips to help voters with dexterity impairments to more easily hold and use a pencil independently.
• Audio recordings of ballot papers to help voters familiarise themselves with the ballot before casting their vote.

You can take your phone into the polling booth to use magnifier or text-to-speech apps, or the phone torch to improve lighting. But you must not take any photos inside the polling station.

In a limited number of places, due to the lack of suitable buildings, we have to use temporary mobiles as polling stations. Due to limitations, we encourage voters to ask staff for assistance if necessary, such as seating.

Postal and proxy voting

If you can't attend the polling station on election day for any reason, you can register in advance to vote by post or proxy instead. Visit our postal votes page and proxy votes page for more information.

Contact us

If you require any further information please contact the Elections Team:

Email: elections@fenland.gov.uk
Phone: 01354 654 321 (open Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm, and Saturdays, 9am to 12noon)