Elections for 14 Rugby Borough Council wards take place on Thursday 7 May, together with parish council elections in Easenhall, Long Lawford, Shilton and Barnacle, Wolston, and Wolvey.
The council relaunched its 'Are You Election Ready?' campaign this week to remind voters of the recent changes to the way we vote - including the need to produce a valid form of photo ID to vote at a polling station, the requirement to complete and sign a postal vote return form when hand-delivering a postal vote to the Town Hall or a polling station, and a limit on the number of postal votes a single voter can hand deliver.
And Dan Green, the Returning Officer for Rugby, warned 2,155 electors in the borough had postal votes cancelled on 1 February 2026 after falling foul of a new rule which means electors must now renew postal votes every three years.
For the May elections, this means electors who applied to vote by post before 31 October 2023 needed to renew postal votes by 31 January 2026.
The council's electoral services team started contacting the 10,784 electors immediately impacted by the rule change in the summer, explaining the need to renew postal votes before the January deadline.
Letters included a paper renewal form and a pre-paid envelope to return the completed form, while email reminders included a link to the online form.
Mr Green said the new rule, introduced under the Elections Act 2022, meant the 2,155 electors who failed to renew postal votes before the deadline now needed to make a new application to vote by post on 7 May - or vote at a polling station on election day.
"The requirement to renew your postal vote every three years was the final change to the way we vote introduced by the Elections Act 2022 and our electoral services team has contacted all electors impacted by the change by letter, email and phone," Mr Green said.
"The team will always contact electors who need to renew postal votes well in advance of an election, so if you've not heard from us, your postal vote remains valid.
"There's still time for electors to apply for a postal vote for the May elections, but I'd encourage everyone who intends to vote in the local
elections - whether in person at a polling station, by post or by proxy - to take five minutes now to check they're ready for polling day."
Electors have been reminded of the key deadlines in the run-up to the election:
You can check whether you're election ready at www.rugby.gov.uk/electionready