Dorking Rural Ward By-Election: 10 December 2026

Dorking Rural Ward

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN

that due to the resignation of Councillor Jo Farrar-Astrop, a vacancy has arisen in the Office of Councillor for the Dorking Rural ward of East Surrey Council.

TWO electors in the principal authority area have requested that the vacancy be filled by an election and this will be held on Thursday 10 December 2026.

Dated Friday 23 October 2026

Adam Chalmers
The Proper Officer
C/O
Pippbrook
Dorking
Surrey
RH4 1SJ

The Notice of Election for the upcoming polls has been published and can be viewed here.

All registered electors, eligible to vote in this election, will receive a physical poll card. Poll Cards will be posted via 2^nd Class post in November.

Electors for whom we hold an email address will receive an email with the necessary details, in addition to the physical card.

Please note that you do not need a poll card to vote, as long as you are registered, however, it does speed up the process at the polling station if you take it with you.

All polling stations open at 7am and close at 10pm. If there’s a queue at your polling station, you’ll still be able to vote as long as you joined the queue before 10pm.

You must be registered to vote to be able to participate in the upcoming elections.

The statutory deadline to register to vote, in time for these elections, is midnight, 24 November 2026

You can register to vote online via https://www.gov.uk/registertovote

A physical form can be requested from Electoral Services by phone, 01306 879198 or by email electoral.registration@molevalley.gov.uk

The statutory deadline to apply to vote by post is 5pm, 25 November 2026.

The same deadline applies to make changes to existing postal voting arrangements; cancel postal voting arrangements, or to make changes to, or cancel, postal proxy voting arrangements.

You can apply for a postal vote online via https://www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote

A physical form can be requested from Electoral Services by phone, 01306 879198 or by email electoral.registration@molevalley.gov.uk

We are currently liaising with our printers to finalise the dates for the despatch of postal ballot papers.

The deadline to appoint a proxy in time for this election is 5pm, 2 December 2026.

One-off proxy voting arrangements, i.e. for this election only, can be applied for online via https://www.gov.uk/apply-proxy-vote

Those requiring a physical form, or those that require long-term proxy voting arrangements should contact us on 01306 879198 or electoral.registration@molevalley.gov.uk

All polling stations open at 7am and close at 10pm. If there’s a queue at your polling station, you’ll still be able to vote as long as you joined the queue before 10pm.

Identification

Those going to a polling station to vote must take photographic identification with them.

The full list of accepted identification can be found on the Electoral Commission’s website https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/voter-id/accepted-forms-photo-id

You can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate if you do not have an accepted form of photographic identification. A Voter Authority Certificate can be used in lieu of an ID document.

Voter Authority Certificate

The easiest method to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate is online via https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate

A physical application form can be requested from Electoral Services on 01306 879198 or electoral.registration@molevalley.gov.uk

The deadline to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate, in time for this election, is 5pm, 2 December 2026.

Please view our separate Accessibility at the Polling Station page for full details.