Contact us and we can send you a postal vote application form. We would prefer you to apply this way as our forms are personalised and barcoded, making it much quicker and more accurate to process. However, if the deadline to apply is approaching, you may wish to print off and use the blank version or one produced by the parties or the Electoral Commission.

To apply to vote by post, your name must appear on the electoral register. You can check this by contacting us [link]. If you are not registered, we will send you a rolling registration form which has a box to tick to apply for a postal vote.

The deadline for us to receive your application to appear on the electoral register effective for the 3 May 2012 elections is midnight, Wednesday 18 April 2012.

When we receive your registration form back we will send you confirmation and a postal vote application form. When we receive that postal vote form back we will send you a further letter of confirmation.

However, the deadline for us to receive your application for a postal vote is 5pm, also on Wednesday 18 April 2012, so please do not leave applying until the last minute.

These deadlines are statutory, the law does not allow us discretion to make any exceptions.

The deadline for us to receive completed applications to vote by post at the elections on 3 May 2012 is 5pm Wednesday 18 April 2012.

Your correctly completed application form must arrive in the Elections Office by this time for you to be able to vote by post at the Referendum or Local Elections on 3 May 2012. In addition, the same deadline applies if you wish to cancel your postal vote and go to the polling station to vote, or if you need to amend your details because your name and signature has changed.

You may post the form back or hand it in at the Elections Office which is located at:

Elections Office
Trafford Council
Quay West
Trafford Wharf Road
Trafford Park
M17 1HH

We can also accept faxed forms, or scanned and emailed forms but we must have your signature and date of birth. These are compared with the signature and date of birth that you must also provide when you complete your ballot paper itself. This is a security measure designed to avoid fraud.