Councillors have approved a pilot letting Maidstone town voters vote early on Saturday 1 May 2027 at a town-centre hub. Government orders and the venue are to come.
People voting in the first Maidstone Town Council election could cast their vote five days early, on Saturday 1 May 2027. They could also vote on polling day at a single hub in the town centre, rather than at their usual polling station.
Updated 4 November: the council’s Democracy and General Purposes Committee approved the pilot on 26 October, according to the draft minutes. Officers said the digital registers update live between locations, which stops anyone voting twice, and that the borough council would recover the cost of the election from the Town Council. A review of polling places was put back to January 2027, partly for the new Town Council wards. The hub still has no named address.
Maidstone Borough Council has bid to run the trial as one of the government’s flexible voting pilots. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has approved it, subject to formal agreement by the minister. The council’s Democracy and General Purposes Committee approved it on Monday 26 October (committee report).
What the pilot would change
The council’s submission sets out two changes for the town council election (submission to government):
- early voting on Saturday 1 May 2027 at a voting hub in the town centre
- the same hub open on polling day, Thursday 6 May 2027, for voters from any ward in the town council area
- postal votes can be handed in at a dedicated desk in the hub
- digital registers will mark off voters in real time, so nobody can vote at the hub and at their own polling station
Normal polling stations would still open on 6 May. The council says it will review whether polling places close to the hub are still needed, once it knows where the hub will be.
The hub has no address yet. The council says it will work with One Maidstone, the town’s business improvement district, to find premises, or use its own building if it is suitable: the Town Hall on Jubilee Square.
Who gets to vote
The pilot covers only the Maidstone Town Council election, not the rest of the borough. The submission gives the scale:
| Electorate, September 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Maidstone Town Council area | 57,608 |
| Maidstone borough | 131,263 |
The town council will have 22 councillors across 10 wards, and the submission expects every ward to be contested. The committee report lists these borough wards as affected:
- Allington and Bridge, Fant and Oakwood, Grove Green and Vinters Park
- High Street, Palace Wood, Park Wood and Mangravet
- Penenden Heath, Ringlestone, Senacre, Shepway and Tovil
Villages with their own parish councils, such as Bearsted, Coxheath and Headcorn, are outside the town council area, so the pilot does not reach them.
Why Maidstone, and why now
The first round of pilots ran in May 2026 in Cambridge, Milton Keynes, North Hertfordshire and Tunbridge Wells. Three tested early voting and Milton Keynes tried a central hub on polling day. Maidstone’s bid would test both at one election, so the government can compare a Saturday vote with a Thursday one.
The council says it could not bid for 2026 because it held no elections that year. It was then expecting to hold elections in May 2027 for a shadow West Kent Council, which fell outside the pilot rules. With local government reorganisation paused, the town council election became the candidate. The government extended its 15 September deadline so Maidstone could submit by 21 September.
Its elections team also helped Tunbridge Wells with its 2026 pilot, according to the Returning Officer’s statement in the bid.
What it costs
The government pays. The committee report says any extra costs, including running the hub and the early voting day, “would be met by Government, creating no additional cost for Maidstone Town Council”. The government’s prospectus says councils must account for every pilot cost afterwards (MHCLG prospectus).
A pilot also needs a statutory order changing election law for that area. The prospectus says the government intends to sign the orders by January 2027.
What it means for you
- If you live in the town council area, you may get a second chance to vote: early on Saturday 1 May, or at the hub on 6 May if your own polling station is not convenient.
- Bring photo ID. The council says its publicity will stress voter ID, because the hub may be further from your home than your usual station.
- Postal voters who miss the post can hand their pack in at the hub.
- Nothing is final yet. Councillors approved the pilot on 26 October, but the minister must still agree. The hub’s location will be announced later.
The council plans to measure turnout on each day and to survey voters at the hub, asking when they decided to vote and how they heard about it.
Sources
- Maidstone Borough Council, Flexible Voting Pilot 2027, report to the Democracy and General Purposes Committee, 26 October 2026
- Maidstone Borough Council, Appendix 1: submission to government
- MHCLG, Appendix 2: Flexible Voting Pilots May 2027 prospectus
- Maidstone Borough Council, Democracy and General Purposes Committee, 26 October 2026, agenda
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