If you have applied for a postal vote for the upcoming council elections on 6^th May, you should receive your ballot paper soon.  With these being the first elections since 2019, due to the pandemic, we all need to make sure our voices are heard.  It’s time for a change in Shepway.  Please see below for a guide on how to vote by post.

Voting for Patrick Coates will allow Labour a bigger voice in our local council.  Patrick has pledged, if elected, that he will work with fellow Labour councillors to:

• Work with you to review traffic congestion, and try to ease car parking in Fant
• Introducing 20mph speed limits in Fant
• Reducing Rat Running traffic inc in Upper Fant Road, Gatland Lane and Glebe Lane
• Reduce Dog Mess & Litter through more bins and enforcement
• Improve pavements & dropped kerbs for wheel chairs and less abled people
• Investigate the Council Transport fleet becoming carbon neutral
• Keep Maidstone Museum Free entry & upgrade the museum to 21^st century standards
• Promote arts & create a more dynamic cultural sector in Maidstone
• Help Private Tenants get a better deal
• Improve & provide more affordable housing
• Protect and Improve local Public Open Spaces, including the riverside & allotments.

A vote for Labour will be a vote for continued improvements for Fant.

POSTAL VOTE GUIDE

When you will receive your ballot paper

After the deadline to become a candidate has passed (approximately three weeks before polling day), ballot papers are produced and printed. Yours will then be sent to you, in your postal voting pack.

Once you receive your postal voting pack, make sure to keep it somewhere safe. Don’t let anyone else handle it and avoid leaving it where someone else could pick it up.

How to vote by post

Step one

When you receive your postal voting pack, check the contents carefully. Inside your postal voting pack, there should be:

• instructions about how to cast your vote and how to return the postal vote pack
• a postal vote statement
• two envelopes
• the ballot paper or papers for the elections taking place

Step two

Complete the postal vote statement carefully following the instructions.

Step three

Read the instructions on the ballot paper carefully. Some elections use different voting methods, so you need to make sure you fill in each ballot paper correctly.

Step four

Complete your ballot paper. Make sure you do it alone and in secret. Don’t write anything else on the paper, or your vote may not be counted.

Step five

Put your ballot paper in the smaller envelope.

Step six

Put your postal vote statement and the envelope containing your ballot paper in the bigger envelope, and seal it all up. Make sure the return address is clear.

Step seven

Put your postal vote somewhere safe until you’re ready to post it.

Returning your postal vote

As soon as you’re ready to return your postal vote, take it to the post box yourself.

If you can’t post it yourself, you can either ask someone you know and trust to post it for you, or you can contact the elections team at your local council to ask if they can collect it from you.

Avoid asking a candidate or party worker to post it for you. This is against their code of conduct.

Your postal vote needs to be with the elections team at your local council by 10pm on polling day to be counted.

If you can’t post your postal vote pack in time, you can take it your polling station or to your local council on polling day.