How to vote in the general election if it's your first time

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A teenager asks if he's eligible to voteImage source, Getty Images

Theresa May has announced a "snap" general election to take place in seven weeks.

The prime minister says she wants MPs to come together in the way she says the British public has since the Brexit vote.

There are roughly 750,000 people who will be able to vote for the first time in their lives on 8 June.

That's the number of British citizens who have turned 18 since the last election in 2015.

This page explains what else you need to do to cast your vote.

Spend five minutes applying for your vote

The government's website promises it will only take five minutes to answer the questions that allow you to be added to the electoral register.

You cannot vote unless you're on this database.

Click here to register., external

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You will be asked for basic things like your address, nationality and National Insurance number when you register

Once registered, you'll get a polling card in the post in the days before voting day.

This will tell you where to go on 8 June and what time your local polling station will be open.

It's normally 7am until 10pm.

What if I turn 18 in the next few weeks?

You still get a vote, so long as you register in time.

The Electoral Commission says the deadline to register is 22 May.

Although it's too late to register to vote in the local elections on 4 May.

Then it's time to decide which way to vote

This is not like the US election, where voters directly pick their preferred candidate for president.

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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Tim Farron of the Liberal Democrats will take on Theresa May's Conservatives

Britain's parliamentary system means you choose your local MP, who represents a political party.

That means there are 650 individual elections taking place on a single day, across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

If one party is able to win more than half the seats in the House of Commons (326) then its leader gets to become prime minister and form a government.

What if I decide not to vote or change my mind after I've voted?

Then you'll probably have to wait until 2022 to have another say in who runs the country, unless there is another snap election before then.

General elections usually occur every five years.

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