The representation of the people act 2000 gave everyone the right to vote by post starting with the 2001 general election. The table below shows the increase in postal voting since 1997.
The figures for 2019 will be available late in 2020 when they are published by the Electoral commission; however Lord Ashcroft poll is estimating that in 2019 the postal vote as a percentage of the valid votes was 38%.
Region Year Electorate Turnout (number of valid votes counted as % of electorate) Total number of valid votes counted Postal votes Issued Postal votes included in count Postal votes included in count as % of valid votes counted
UK 2017 46,835,433 68.80% 32,220,817 8,456,791 6,986,581 21.68%
UK 2015 46,354,197 66.22% 30,697,525 7,592,735 6,302,073 20.53%
UK 2010 45,597,461 65.11% 29,687,604 6,996,006 5,596,865 18.85%
UK 2005 44,245,939 61.37% 27,153,310 5,362,501 3,963,792 14.60%
UK 2001 44,403,238 57.26% 25,426,017 1,758,055 1,370,884 5.39%
UK 1997 43,714,673 71.57% 31,286,284 937,205 738,614 2.36%