Voting in mayoral elections

There are different types of mayors in England. Some are directly elected, such as the Mayor of London, local authority mayors, combined authority mayors, and combined county authority mayors.

Combined authority mayors (or 'metro mayors') and combined county authority mayors (covering both rural and urban areas) are elected to lead combined authorities.

A combined authority or combined county authority is where a group of local councils work together on issues that affect the whole area, such as transport and housing.

Local authority mayors are elected to lead the local council in one area.

The Mayor of London holds a different role to other directly elected mayors, setting the vision and budget for London. Their work is scrutinised by the London Assembly.

Mayoral elections take place every four years, unless there is a by-election.

Combined authority mayors and combined county authority mayors

At these mayoral elections, if there are only two candidates, the mayor is elected under the first past the post voting system.

If there are three or more candidates, the mayor is elected using the Supplementary Vote system.

You will vote for your top two candidates. Mark an ‘X’ next to your first choice in column A, and then an ‘X’ next to your second choice in column B.

You don’t have to choose a second candidate if you don’t want to, but you need to mark your first choice, or your vote won’t be counted.

If a candidate gets more than half of all the first-choice votes, they are elected. If this doesn’t happen, the two candidates with the most first choice votes are kept, and all other candidates are taken out of the race.

The ballot papers marked for the candidates who were taken out of the race in the first round are counted again. This time the second-choice votes on those ballot papers are counted and added to the totals of the two candidates still in the race.

The candidate with the most first and second choice votes is then elected.

Local authority mayors and Mayor of London

Local authority mayors and the Mayor of London are elected using first-past-the-post.

You will only be able to vote for one candidate, by marking an ‘X’ in the box next to your choice.