Prices
If you’re creating leaflets, posters, signs or other printed materials for an election campaign, there’s an important detail that needs to be considered before your artwork goes to print: the election imprint.
It might only take up a small amount of space on the finished design, but it plays an important role in making it clear who’s responsible for producing and publishing election material.
In this guide, we’ll explain what an election imprint is, what information it can need to contain and where it should appear. The rules can vary depending on who’s campaigning and the election involved, so you should always check the latest Electoral Commission guidance for your circumstances before printing.
An election imprint is information added to campaign material to identify who’s responsible for publishing it.
For printed election material, the imprint also identifies the printer. Its purpose is transparency, allowing people who receive or see campaign material to understand who’s behind it.
An imprint isn’t just something added to election leaflets. If something counts as printed election material, the requirement can apply across a much wider range of print.
The Electoral Commission states that all printed election material needs an imprint. This includes material such as leaflets, posters, newspaper advertising and billboard advertising.
Election material is broadly material that can reasonably be regarded as intended to promote an outcome in an election. That can include material promoting a candidate or political party. Candidate election material can also include material that criticises another candidate.
In practical print terms, that could mean an imprint needs to be considered when producing campaign flyers, folded leaflets, booklets, posters, signs and other printed materials intended to support an election campaign.
Not every piece of printed information connected with an election will necessarily count as election material. For example, the Electoral Commission says material that only encourages people to register to vote or take part in an election, without promoting an electoral outcome, wouldn’t normally be treated in the same way.
If you’re unsure whether a particular piece of print requires an imprint, it’s worth checking the Electoral Commission guidance rather than assuming. Publishing printed election material without the required imprint can be an offence, which is why it’s important to check the requirements before artwork is approved and sent to print.
For printed election material such as leaflets and posters, the Electoral Commission says the imprint needs to include the name and address of the printer and the promoter. It also needs to identify anyone on whose behalf the material is being published where that person or organisation isn’t the promoter. The promoter is the person responsible for causing the material to be published.
For candidate material, this will often be the candidate’s election agent, with the candidate identified as the person the material is being published on behalf of. If the candidate is also acting as the promoter, the structure can be different.
Political parties and non party campaigners also have their own Electoral Commission guidance, so it’s important to follow the guidance that applies to whoever is publishing the material rather than copying an imprint from another campaign.
It’s also important to account for everyone involved in publishing and promoting the material. In some circumstances, such as where someone is being paid to publish election material, additional details may need to be included. Check the guidance that applies to your particular campaign rather than relying on a previous imprint as a template.
The address included within an imprint needs to be somewhere the relevant person or organisation can be contacted.
According to the Electoral Commission, this can be a home address, office or business address, PO Box or another mailbox service. That gives campaigners some flexibility, but the details still need to satisfy the requirements that apply to the material.
If you’re using an imprint from previous campaign artwork, don’t assume the information is still correct. Check the names, addresses and responsibilities again before reusing it.
Placement matters as well as content. If the material is printed on one side, or most of its information appears on one side, the imprint should appear on that side. For printed material with multiple sides or pages, the Electoral Commission says the imprint must appear on the first or last page.
Size can matter too. For printed material relating to a particular candidate at Scottish Parliamentary elections, minimum imprint text sizes apply. Material that’s A4 or larger must use type at least equivalent to 11 point Times New Roman, with at least 3 mm between lines. For material smaller than A4, the minimum is equivalent to 9 point, with at least 2 mm between lines.
The Electoral Commission recommends using similar sizing for imprints on other printed material, helping to make sure the information remains clear and readable. That means it’s worth thinking about the imprint while the artwork is still being designed rather than trying to squeeze it into a finished layout immediately before ordering.
Leave enough room for the required information to remain clear and readable at the finished size, and keep it safely inside the trim area. Avoid treating the imprint as an afterthought and reducing it simply to make it fit into the remaining space.
No. There are different sets of guidance depending on whether material is being produced by a candidate, political party or non party campaigner.
There are also different imprint requirements for non party campaigners at Scottish Parliamentary elections and council elections in Scotland. That’s why there isn’t a single piece of imprint wording that every campaign can simply copy and paste.
Before preparing your artwork, identify which Electoral Commission guidance applies to you, then use that guidance to build the correct imprint for your material.
Printed and digital campaign materials have separate imprint rules. Under the Elections Act 2022, certain digital campaign material also needs an imprint. This can include content such as social media posts, online advertising, websites, messages on some messaging services and electronic billboards.
This article focuses on material that’s physically printed. If your campaign also includes digital content, check the Electoral Commission’s digital imprint guidance separately rather than assuming the requirements are identical.
Your imprint should form part of the artwork supplied to your printer. Before exporting the final file, check that the required names and addresses are correct, the imprint appears in the appropriate position and the text remains readable at its finished size.
You’ll also need to make the usual technical checks, including document size, bleed, safe areas, image quality, colour setup and fonts. Our Support Guides can help you prepare your artwork correctly before uploading it.
For extra peace of mind, you can also use our artwork checking service, which reviews the technical setup of your file before it enters production. Artwork checks don’t confirm the wording, accuracy or legal compliance of an election imprint, so you should always check the latest Electoral Commission guidance before submitting your artwork.
Election imprint rules are a legal requirement, so the Electoral Commission should be your primary source when deciding what your material needs to include.
Its guidance is separated for candidates, political parties and non party campaigners, making it easier to find the requirements that apply to your circumstances. There’s also separate Electoral Commission guidance for digital imprints, as well as specific guidance for non party campaigners at Scottish Parliamentary elections and council elections in Scotland.
Check the relevant guidance before approving your artwork, particularly if you’re reusing a design from an earlier election or adapting material created for a different campaign.
Once the imprint is correct, you can concentrate on getting the rest of your election artwork ready for print.
Posted on September 15, 2026 by Ben Riches
Related topics:
