General election 2015: Have you registered to vote?

There are less than 12 hours left to register to vote in 2015 general election and those who do not register by midnight April 20 will be unable to cast their vote.

Registering can be made online and takes around 5 minutes. It is too late to register to vote by post.

According to Electoral Commission over million people have registered to vote in the last five weeks online with over 300,000 applications from 16 – 24 year olds.

However research by the Commission in 2014 found there may be around 7.5 million people unregistered to vote due to the recent change in voters registration where every person needs to register to vote individually.

Polling day for the General Election takes place on Thursday May 7.

If you are over the age of 18 and have not registered to vote you could face an £80 fine.

Bite the Ballot, a national campaign group have been in Nottingham encouraging people to register.

Rachel Armitage, community engagement officer at Bite the Ballot , said that registering to vote is extremely important.

“People need to remember registering is different to voting. If you register you don’t have to necessarily have to vote but we would always encourage you to make an informed vote,” she said.

“If you are a young person and you register you pop up on the governments radar and join the register of people who may vote for them and they are then going to have to think about policy that suits you because you are a potential voter.”

Miss Armitage said that although people may not bothered about voting this might change in a few weeks time and by registering now it gives people the option to cast their vote on May 7.

Register to vote at: www.gov.uk/registertovote