Emma Richardson writes for the Journal.

It won’t have escaped your notice that we have a rather large political event looming.

As with all these things, most of us generally fall into one of two camps, either really political, keen to vote, clear opinions on who to vote for, or it’s all a waste of time, it doesn’t matter if I vote or not.

I’ll be really honest, I’ve always been passionate about defending my right to vote as a woman, we all know the stories about the suffragettes and how much they sacrificed in order for me to put that X in a box.

However, there have been elections in the past where I’ve found it hard to get the motivation to bother. Like it or not though, the Brexit vote demonstrated one thing. It does matter, and your vote does count- demonstrated by the fact that nobody really thought we’d vote to leave the EU as a country. But leave we have and that’s a whole other column for another day.

Voting has changed in the last couple of years, it’s no longer as straightforward as rocking up and giving your name. Very recent changes mean that you need to present photo ID to be given that precious voting slip and that means one of a few specific documents.

For most of us it’s either a driving licence photocard or a passport- both of which are expensive documents to acquire. Fear not however, it is possible to apply for a voter authority certificate which is free of charge, but you’ll need to get your skates on.

In fact, there are a few key dates coming up with regards the election to make sure you can exercise your democratic right and I thought it might be useful to list them:

· You must have registered to vote by 11.59pm on 18th June.

· If you can’t make it to the polling station on the day and would like to have a postal vote, the deadline for new applications is 5pm on 19th June.

· If you can’t make it to the polling station on the day and would like to have someone vote on your behalf (proxy vote) the deadline for new applications is 26th June.

· If you need to apply for a Voter Authority certificate because you don’t have photo ID, the deadline is 5pm on 26th June.

All these applications can be made via the Government website.

As for how you use your vote, that’s up to you. Wherever you put that X, just make sure you do. It’s a 30 second task that has a 4 year impact, don’t waste your opportunity to make a difference.