02/04/2026
Elections to Essex County Council are taking place on 7 May - here's everything you need to know ⤵
The divisions within the Braintree district area are Bocking, Braintree Eastern, Braintree Town, Halstead, Hedingham, Three Fields & Great Notley, Witham Town and Witham West & Rural.
🗳 Register to vote deadline: Monday 20 April
🗳 Postal vote deadline: 5pm on Tuesday 21 April
🗳 Proxy vote (someone voting on your behalf) deadline: 5pm on Tuesday 28 April
🗳 Free voter ID deadline: 5pm on Tuesday 28 April
Poll cards have started to arrive this week. We are aware that that the poll cards issued by Braintree District Council for the Essex County Council elections taking place on 7 May – that is for all ECC electoral divisions within the Braintree district – include an error ‼ The poll cards should say that they are for the Essex County Council elections but instead refer to ‘election of councillors to Braintree District Council’. The poll cards do correctly tell voters the name of their electoral area (misdescribed as a ward not a division) and the date, time and place when they can vote.
We apologise for any confused caused. The matter is being investigated by Braintree District Council and the print supplier so we can ensure it does not happen again. A reminder that the poll card is notification that an election is taking place - you do not need to take it to the polling station and no one’s right to vote is affected by this error.
If you haven’t received your poll card and you believe you're registered to vote, contact our team by emailing elections@braintree.gov.uk
Following our polling places review and the feedback received, we have made changes to some polling stations from this year:
📍 Current polling station: The Tythings Halstead (portacabin). New polling station: The Three Pigeons, Halstead
📍 Current polling station: Marshalls Park, Braintree (portacabin). New polling station: The Chapel Cemetery, Braintree
📍 Current polling station: Templars Academy, Witham. New polling station: Rickstones Church, Witham
📍 Current polling station: STEM Innovation Centre, Braintree (portacabin). New polling station: Polly's Field, Braintree
For this election only, the polling station at Notley High School, Braintree will be moved to John Ray Infants school.
The Statement of Persons nominated will be published after close of nominations on Thursday 9 April - we'll make this available on our website and share on our social media channels too.
Handy links to information shared above can be found in the comments below 👇
