By Jonathan Reynolds MP
THE coronavirus pandemic has made us do many things differently. How we work, keep in touch with family and friends, shop. The latest challenge is how we vote.
Last year’s council and mayoral elections, due to take place in May just six weeks into the first lockdown, were understandably postponed by a year.
I remember at the time thinking that did not bode well for how long the Government suspected the Covid-19 crisis might continue. Sadly, that hunch proved right.
This year, elections look set to go ahead. May 6 is set to be super Thursday, with council and mayoral elections here, and elsewhere Scottish Parliament elections, Welsh Assembly elections and Police and Crime Commissioner elections.
This pandemic has proved how essential the different layers of our democracy are. Councils and councillors have been on the frontline, from delivering food to the isolating, to working with the local NHS to co-ordinate the vaccine rollout, to supporting our schools to work differently.
The importance of a Greater Manchester Mayor was laid bare during the stand-off with Government, in which the Conservative Cabinet seemed adamant to ask Northern employees to survive on 60 per cent furlough, when it had been 80 per cent when London and the South East was affected. If we had not had that elected GM wide voice in Andy Burnham, the deal for areas like ours could have got worse.
It is obvious that things will have to be done differently in these elections. But if America can manage to hold a presidential election in the middle of this crisis, we can surely work these issues out here.
One of the biggest lessons from the USA was loud and clear: the safest way to have your say in a coronavirus-impacted election is to vote by post.
I would strongly advise every single voter to register for a postal vote for the upcoming elections. It means that whatever the infection rate on polling day, whatever the weather, and whatever your personal circumstances, you will still have your say on who represents your community.
I will be registering for a postal vote for the first time. Usually, I love to vote in person, in my case up the road at St Paul’s School in Stalybridge. I love to physically watch the paper fall into the ballot box.
This year however, I will be watching it fall into the post box. Voting by post is secure – you still mark your vote in secret, and you seal the envelope yourself. It is straightforward, with clear instructions.
You can download the form online: www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-for-a-postal-vote or call Tameside Council to ask for one on 0161 342 8355.
Postal vote signatures need to be updated every five years, so if get sent a form asking you to re-confirm your signature, remember to send that back.
When I first became involved in politics, postal votes were only for the ill. You literally needed a doctor’s note to qualify. Now, rightly, they available to everyone, as a key mechanism for making our democracy more inclusive. Be smart, apply for your postal vote today.