With the voter registration deadline approaching for local elections being held on Thursday 2 May, anyone wanting to vote must make sure they are election ready.

The deadline to register to vote is midnight on Tuesday 16 April. Voters can apply online at gov.uk/register-to-vote. It takes just five minutes.

Voters have a range of options – they can vote in person, by post or by appointing someone they trust to vote in their place, known as a proxy vote.

The deadline to apply for a postal vote is 5pm on Wednesday 17 April. The deadline to apply for a proxy vote is a week later, 5pm on Wednesday 24 April.

This May, voters will need to show photo ID to vote at a polling station. This is a new requirement, introduced by the UK Government’s Elections Act. To find out which ID you can use in the polling station, visit the Electoral Commission website.

If you do not have one of the accepted types of ID, you can apply for free ID at www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate or by completing and submitting a paper form to your local authority. You must apply by 5pm on Wednesday 24 April, to be able to use the Voter Authority Certificate on Thursday 2 May.