Close of polls statement – 2 May 2024

Initial feedback from our members is this polling day has been quiet in many areas, without major issues.

The dedication and hard work electoral administrators and their suppliers have put into planning and running these elections – against the backdrop of the uncertainty of when the general election will be called – needs to be acknowledged.

While today’s polls are now closed, the work is far from over. Results will be declared overnight and into the weekend.

Counterintuitively, even at lower turnouts, these polls are often more complex to count than a UK Parliamentary general election. There are different combinations of elections in many areas. Counts for Police and Crime Commissioners, Combined Authority Mayors and for London are also being held across multiple council areas.

We will have to wait for data on voter ID and new postal vote handling rules to be collected and analysed before we can judge how these new regulations have gone at their first England and Wales-wide test.

As always, we’ll working with our members, the wider electoral community, Electoral Commission and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to evaluate how today’s polls have run. Identifying and addressing issues, plus sharing good practice, will be crucial ahead of the general election whenever it is called.