Local elections are taking place on Thursday, May 4, with voters across England deciding who represents them at a local level.
Elections will take place across 230 local authority areas, with more than 8,000 councillors being chosen to sit on their local councils in counties up and down the country. In Greater Manchester, seats are up for grabs in all ten of the region's boroughs.
Elections are also taking place to choose mayors in Bedford, Leicester, Mansfield and Middlesbrough.
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This year is the first year that voters in England will have to provide photo ID in order to cast their vote. Voters will need to show a valid form of identification such as a passport, driving licence or blue badge before they are given their ballot paper.
The deadline to register to vote passed in April, so if you want to vote in this year's election you should have already received your polling card in the post. You'll need to read it before heading to the polling station.
Here's everything you need to know about the information it contains and whether or not you'll need to take it with you.
What is your polling card for?
If you are registered to vote you will have been sent a poll card which tells you the date of the election, what time you can vote and at which polling station. It will also show your personal details including your name and electoral register number.
Everyone who’s registered to vote in your household will receive their own poll card.
It is important you read your polling card carefully because you are only allowed to vote at the polling station listed on your card. If you try and cast your vote at a different polling station you will be turned away.
If you have not received a poll card, but think you should have, you can contact your local Electoral Registration Office.
Do you need to take your polling card with you on the day?
You do not have to take your poll card with you to the polling station on the day, so you don't need to panic if you've lost it.
You can take it if you wish, but you only need to tell the people at the polling station your name and address when you arrive in order to cast your ballot.
If you have lost your card and you need to find out where your polling station is, you can check your local council website.
READ MORE:
- The newly introduced changes you will see at Greater Manchester polling stations when you vote on May 4
- Local elections 2023: The key battlegrounds as Greater Manchester prepares to go to the polls
- ''Tens of thousands of steps, hundreds of hours of work and broken shoes": A day in the life of a council candidate
- Manchester councillors in Zorro-style masks send out Voter ID warning in bizarre Twitter video
- Candidate's shame after sick tweet unearthed joking his name was 'rape'
