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Voter ID statistics

From May 2023, anyone voting in a polling station must present a valid form of photo ID. This new requirement was introduced by the government through the Elections Act 2022.

The Electoral Commission (opens in a new window) are responsible for reviewing the implementation of voter ID. We have provided the Electoral Commission with information about how it was introduced in the borough of Tunbridge Wells, and they will produce national figures in due course.

This page provides borough and polling station level statistics about voter ID at the elections held on Thursday 4 May 2023. It also provides information about how we advertised locally the need to show voter ID in a polling station.

Borough level statistics

The Returning Officer for Tunbridge Wells Borough Council made the decision that 'greeters' would not be used at any of our polling stations. This means that every elector who attended a polling station had their voter ID checked once inside the polling station. Every elector who was not able to vote because they did not have voter ID was recorded by staff.

The borough level voter ID statistics for the elections held on Thursday 4 May 2023 are listed below.

Polling stations in use 47
Number of polling station electors who applied for, but were not issued with a ballot paper 122
Number of polling station electors who were not issued with a ballot paper, but who later returned with an accepted form of voter ID and were issued with a ballot paper 84
Number of polling station electors who applied for, but were not issued with a ballot paper by close of poll 38

Polling station statistics

Please select a polling station from the drop-down list below, then click 'View statistics' to view the voter ID statistics for that station. Polling stations are grouped in their ward areas.

Some polling station venues will appear twice, as they host 'dual stations' where there are two ballot boxes. The ballot box number is shown in brackets.

If you would prefer, you can download all of the data in a single CSV file. Click here to download the raw data.

Please note that Tunbridge Wells Borough Council elects by thirds, so not every area had elections on 4 May 2023. The wards of Brenchley and Horsmonden, Broadwater, Capel, and St James’ did not have an election.

Advertising voter ID

The introduction of voter ID is one the biggest changes seen at elections for many years. It impacts everyone who wishes to vote in a polling station. As a result, we felt it was vital that information about voter ID was shared as widely as possible ahead of polling day.

A few of the steps we took to advertise the requirement for voter ID in a polling station were:

  • sent a voter ID information leaflet with over 33,000 paper Council Tax bills
  • attached a voter ID leaflet and included information in the body of over 18,000 electronic Council Tax bills
  • ran a double page article about the May elections and voter ID in the Spring edition of our Local magazine, which was delivered to every household in the borough during March
  • posted information regularly on our social media channels and provided a dedicated page on our website about voter ID
  • provided all GP surgeries in the borough with voter ID posters to display in their waiting areas
  • sent voter ID information to all secondary schools in the borough for sharing with their year 13 students
  • provided local groups, such as Age UK Tunbridge Wells, with voter ID posters and leaflets to push the message out via their support groups
  • ran a four-week petrol pump nozzle advertising campaign at three key filling stations in the borough
  • included voter ID information with all garden waste renewal notifications sent since the start of the year

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