Elections

The Electoral Registration Process

The Electoral Registration Service produces and maintains the register of people in the District who are entitled to vote in all local and parliamentary elections.

You can only vote in elections if your name is on the register of electors. The Electoral Registration Officer makes and keeps two versions of the electoral register - the full register and the edited register.

The register is updated in two ways:

An annual canvass, is carried out in the Autumn (between September and the end of November) when forms are sent to every household in the district. The information collected is then published in a revised register issued on 1st December.
Rolling Registration, Outside of the canvass, a rolling registration system is in operation (between December and August). Additions, deletions and amendments can be made each month and a Notice of Alteration to the Register is published.

To be included on the annual canvass form you must be:

resident in the District on 15th October;
18 years of age or over or reach the age of 18 within the following 16 months;
a British, Commonwealth, Irish Republic or European Union member state citizen.

It is important to note:

you must, by law, complete and return this form;
16 and 17 year olds should be included (so that they can vote as soon as they become 18).

We send reminder forms to all non-responding households but if you do not receive, or have misplaced your form, please contact us for a replacement.

If you miss the deadline for inclusion on the published Register, but meet all the conditions set out above, you should contact our office and we will be pleased to advise you on making a claim for inclusion.

The full register lists everyone who is entitled to vote. You can check it by calling at the Council Offices or at some local libraries. Only certain people and organisations can have copies of the full register and they can only use it for specified purposes. These include electoral purposes, the prevention and detection of crime and checking your identity when you have applied for credit. The law says who can have a copy of the full register and what they can use it for. The full list of such persons and purposes is given in the Representation of the People (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2002. It is a criminal offence for them to pass it on to anyone else or to use it for any other purpose.

The edited register leaves out the names and addresses of people who have asked for them to be excluded from that version of the register The edited register can be bought by anyone who asks for a copy and they may use it for any purpose.

When registering, each individual must indicate whether or not they wish their name to be excluded from the edited register.