Everything You Need for May 2023
A huge set of Local elections will take place in England on 4 May 2023.
A full list of places with local elections can be found here.
These will be the first elections to be contested under the new Voter ID legislation – requiring photo ID to vote at a polling station. They will also be the first non-pandemic elections in England in which candidates will require just 2 nominations to stand rather than 10.
We will regularly update this page to keep you informed of the latest news about the upcoming elections with up to date advice and resources.
Election Timetable
The Electoral Commission has published the timetable for the 2023 Local Elections. This contains key deadlines around nominations, applications to vote and election expenses.
- You can download the full timetable from the Electoral Commission website here.
- A simple breakdown of the key dates can be found here.
Agent Advice
ALDC has produced a new Local Election Agents Toolkit. If you are an election agent this year – or if you are co-ordinating any part of the legal side of the campaign – you will be able to find vital information and resources here.
Filling out your Nomination Forms
To stand for election you must submit formal nomination papers. For English local elections this year there is a significant change in the number if nominations a candidate needs to stand, which has reduced from 10 signatures to just 2!
You can find a full toolkit on how to fill out your nomination papers here.
Election Expenses
During the regulated period of the election you must record all expenditure that contributes towards the promotion of a candidate – and submit a set of expense returns once the election is over.
A toolkit to help you keep track of your election spending and fill out your expense returns can be found here.
Literature Programme
ALDC keep a regularly updated library of Focus Leaflets, Direct Mail and Election Literature. You can find our standard literature programme for the 2023 local elections on the Countdown to Polling Day link below. Templates will be published on both ALDC Artworker and Affinity Publisher.
We are working with our printer partners Election Workshop to secure the cheapest deals for the main products – and we will be offering regular bulk buy deals on most items of literature between now and May 4th.
A popular bulk-buy offer that we will be repeating this year is the Three Leaflet Deal in which you can purchase 3 core election leaflets together to be delivered back to you in turn between mid March and late April.
ALDC and Election Workshop have a variety of different Direct Mail bulk buy deals to form a campaign plan up until polling day in May. All of which can be purchased as part of bulk buy deals along with envelopes. Direct Mail can also be supplied already stuffed and ready to be delivered. Full details of each Direct Mail offer is on the link to the right.
Campaign Resources
There are a number of resources you will no doubt need to organise your campaign.
ALDC has gathered together a number of different resources you can download – ranging from instructions for blue and cream letter writing, template tellers pad and rotas, committee room resources and more that will be added in the coming weeks.
Winning the Postal Vote
Postal voters are one of the most important groups in your electorate. People with a postal vote are far more likely to vote in a local election compared to those who vote in person – turnout amongst postal voters can often be as high as 80-90%.
- You can find an extensive set of templates for your Postal Vote campaign in our Postal Vote Campaign Pack here.
- An advice article on how to win the postal vote can be found here.
- An article on Getting out the Postal Vote on Polling Day can be found here.
Voter ID
May’s local election will be the first to require voters to present photographic ID in order to vote at a polling station. This is a major change to how elections are conducted and you need to make sure people going to vote Lib Dem on polling day remember to bring an acceptable form of ID with them.
- You can find an ALDC advice article on the new Voter ID rules here.
- All your literature templates targeted at Lib Dems (such as knock ups, eve of polls and good mornings) need to have a reminder to voters to take ID with them to the polling station. All ALDCs templates include this message so please use our Countdown to Polling Day Materials.
- Postal Voters don not require ID to vote. Therefore this a great hook to use to recruit more postal voters using the Winning the Postal Vote resources above.