The week is upon us - this Thursday Londoners will head to the polls to vote for the new Mayor of London.

Richmond's polling stations will be COVID secure as voters turn out to cross the box for their preferred Mayor of London candidate, London Assembly candidate, and Hampton Wick by-election.

There will be hand sanitiser at the entrance, floor markings and compulsory face masks among many other measures.

Mike Gravatt, Borough Returning Officer for the GLA election, said: "This election will be very different to usual due to the current pandemic. The safety of voters and our polling station staff is paramount so we are doing everything we can to ensure people stay safe in our polling stations.

"It is important that everyone has their say on who represents them, so we have been planning for some time to make sure that people can vote safely."

What will the polling stations look like?

Each polling station has been assessed and will have safety systems in place that are specific to that location, so some staff may be behind protective screens or there may be a one-way system.

Voters will also see queuing systems in place to ensure social distancing guidelines are followed and people are being reminded they may need to be patient at busy times.

Polling booths will be cleaned very regularly throughout the day and voters are also being encouraged to bring their own pencil or pen. If not, clean pencils that have been sanitised between uses will be provided.

A new way to find your nearest polling station

An online tool has been launched to help Londoners locate their polling stations.

The Polling Station Finder is available at: https://www.londonelects.org.uk/im-voter/find-my-nearest-polling-station.

The interactive Polling Station Finder, produced in conjunction with the Democracy Club and available at LondonElects.org.uk, uses electoral register information to identify the specific polling station each voter should visit to cast their votes.

To use the tool, Londoners can go to the 'Voter' section of the website, select 'Ways of voting' and input their postcodes into the Polling Station Finder search box.

The Polling Station Finder will then produce the address of their allocated polling station and show its proximity to their home on an interactive map.

On 6 May, Londoners can only vote at the polling station which has been assigned to them.

How to vote in the Mayor of London / London Assembly elections

- In this election, there are three ballot papers and four votes.

Two votes for the Assembly elections and a first and second choice for the Mayoral election.

- You must make a first choice for the Mayor, or your vote won't be counted. Each vote must be for a different candidate.

- Your polling station will be open from 7am until 10pm on election day.

- Before 6 May, you will receive your polling card through your door. This will include details of your named polling station.

- The deadline has passed for proxy votes.

- The deadline to apply for a proxy vote as a result of an emergency is 5pm, Thursday 6 May 2021. More information on how to do that here.