Electors who vote by post or proxy for any election are required to provide their date of birth and a signature.
As part of this process, the electoral registration officer is required to obtain an updated version of signatures held for applications older than three years.
At the beginning of each year, the elections office send out a letter to those electors whose signature is due for update requesting a fresh application, which can be made at www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote. If a new application is not made, then the absent voting arrangements will be cancelled and the voter will need to vote in person at their polling station.
