Individual Electoral Registration – changes voting registration

A question about : Individual Electoral Registration – changes voting registration

The way we register to vote in England and Wales has changed and will change in Scotland from 19th September 2014.

The change means, rather than one person registering all members of a household each individual will need to register themselves.

You need to register in order to be able to vote

If you aren’t registered, you don’t get a say on who represents you.

It can also help boost your credit score as if you're not on the electoral roll it's unlikely you'll get accepted for credit. This is because credit reference agencies use the register to confirm where you live in order to counteract fraud.

How to register

You can register to vote online at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Or if you’re unsure whether you are already registered under the new system, contact your local electoral registration staff via the www.aboutmyvote.co.uk site.

Do I need to do this?

Even if you were registered in the past, you may need to register again, particularly if you’ve moved in the last 18 months, so do check.

Read More

Read more about the changes in our 60 Seconds... on changes to the electoral roll

Best answers:

• When the CRAs receive the full version, will they now also get access to the date of birth and NI number of the voter?
• Hi Bob,
  Thanks for your question. Unfortunately, we're not sure what you mean by CRA. Could you clarify for us? We'll then get back to you.
  Thanks,
  Electoral Commission
• CRA = Credit Reference Agency.
  Experian, Equifax and Callcredit
• Is it a legal requirement to be registered to vote?
  If I decide I'm apathetic to politics and therefore not registered, can it effect my credit rating?
• Yep if you don't register to vote you aren't as credit worthy. If you want credit and to buy a house then register, if you don't then you're OK. I don't care if the CRA's store my DOB and national ref no as I have nothing to hide.
• Pretty sure that's not what they asked for and also pretty sure you're not a regulated company. I'll not worry and you can be all paranoid about it.
• Hi Adindas,
  We'll answer your questions separately.
  Could any organization try to search my name and address on Electoral Vote and send unsolicited mail using my full name and address without my permission?
  The electoral register lists the names and addresses of everyone who is registered to vote in public elections. The register is used for electoral purposes, such as making sure only eligible people can vote. It is also used for other limited purposes specified in law, such as detecting crime (e.g. fraud), calling people for jury service and checking credit applications.
  Electoral registration officers keep two registers – the electoral register and the open register (also known as the edited register).
  The electoral register is, by law, a public document. It is available for inspection to allow members of the public to check to ensure that all eligible names have been included and that the names of ineligible people have not. This is considered to be an important safeguard against the potential for abuse of the electoral system. As indicated above, it can only be supplied to certain persons/organisations specified in law, and those persons/organisations are not able to disclose any information from it (that is not included on the open register), and can only use the information contained in the electoral register for the purpose for which they are entitled to receive it. The electoral register is usually in street order rather than name order.
  The open register is an extract of the electoral register, but is not used for elections. It can be bought by any person, company or organisation. For example, it is used by businesses and charities to confirm name and address details. Your name and address will be included in the open register unless you ask for them to be removed. Removing your details from the open register does not affect your right to vote.
  In order to check whether you are on the open version of the register, you will need to contact the Electoral Registration Officer at your local council, as they are responsible for maintaining the register. To find their contact details, enter your postcode on aboutmyvote.co.uk.
  Also apart from names and address what other public information on particular person is published ?
  The electoral register lists the names and addresses of everyone who is registered to vote in public elections. Franchise markers are also included indicating eligibility to vote in particular elections for certain electors. Where the person registered is between 16 and 18 their date of birth is included to signify when they will be able to vote for the first time. The open register is identical to the electoral register except that it does not include the details of any elector who has requested that there details be excluded.
  More information about electoral registration can be found at aboutmyvote.co.uk.
• How will you verify someone does live where they claim to?
  I understand individuals will be able to apply online. What checks will be done to ensure someone does not intentionally use an incorrect address? will something be sent out in the post to confirm the address.
• Thank you for comprehensive answer
  Quote:
• Just received a letter from my local (English) council about individual registration. This says "... you have been automatically registered under the new system ... you do not need to do anything now".
  This puzzled me, as I have never provided my local council with my National Insurance Number. So how did they get it?
  A quick bit of research revealed that local councils have been carrying out a "data matching exercise", marrying up data held by local councils with that held by the DWP!
  No mention of this in the letter from the local council, or in the original post in this thread.
  Could it be that the Electoral Commission and the councils don't want people to know that they've done this? It smacks of Big Brother. I thought organisations that held personal data had to be up front about how they gathered it? And how can I be sure that my local council has stored my NINo correctly, when I haven't provided it to them and they haven't told me what NINo they have recorded against my name on the Register?
  It would have been better if the Council and the Electoral Commission had been open and honest about this.
  I have nothing to hide, but this Big Brother mentality, and the patronising attitude of "we know what is best for you" does not it well with me!!
• Here's a question I am very interested in getting a response to as when I talked to the electoral commission they were less than helpful.
  I left the area years ago due to abusive ex partner and their family. Now I'm back I am about to register, but my ex partner still poses risk to me, already been verbally attacked and my car vandalised.
  Her sister works for a political party in the UK and has access to the register, and I know for a fact used it to track me in the past.
  I had looked at anonymous registration, but says I need a court order and I don't know if the local parties could see my real info on the records. What should I do? What are my rights?