Electoral registration

The electoral register

The electoral register (or voters role) is the list of everyone who is entitled to vote. It is available for viewing in public libraries and post offices, click on libraries for further information. The register is published annually on 1 December, but it is also updated on a monthly basis. This is called Rolling Registration. It is important that your details are on the electoral register as you can only vote in elections if you appear on the register at your address.

Please note that because you pay council tax it does not automatically mean that your name will be on the electoral register.

Eligibility

To be included on the Electoral Register you must be aged 18 or over, or become 18 by 30 November when the register expires. You must also be a British, Commonwealth or Irish citizen, or be a citizen of a member state of the European Union.

Recent changes in legislation have made registering to vote easier for certain electors these include:

• Homeless people,
• Members of HM forces,
• Remand prisoners,
• Mental health patients.

Crown Servants Registration - Postal and proxy forms.

Combined Overseas Registration - Postal and proxy form.

Combined Service Voter Declaration - Postal and proxy form.

For further information on these groups please contact the Elections Office.

Rolling registration

Rolling registration means that if during the year, you move address or your personal details change, the Electoral Register can be updated within four to six weeks.

All you have to do is complete and return to us a Voter Registration Form. You have to sign and complete your or own form as someone else cannot sign it for you, only one name per form is allowed.

When we receive a form from you, we will add your details to the list of changes. This is done on a monthly basis, however it may take up to six weeks for your details to be added to the register itself. Any elector may object to your name being added to the register, if this happens we will write to you.

We will also inform the Electoral Registration Officer for your old address that you have moved, so that your name will be removed from that council's register. People, who live at two homes (including students), are allowed to be registered at both. (Students and those with a second home have the right to vote at both elections during a municipal election, but must only vote from one address at a parliamentary election.) If you do not wish to be excluded from your other address please explain why on your form.

If your application is not objected to, we will change your details within two to six weeks of receiving your form. We will write to tell you when your application has been allowed.

Rolling registration does not take place during September, October or November. During these months we carry out our annual canvass of every property in the borough and publish a new updated register on 1 December.

It should be noted that being on the Council Tax list does not mean that you are on the Electoral Register.

We will be updating the Electoral Register as follows

If we get the form before...                                         Your details will be changed on...

Tuesday 11 December 2007                                      Wednesday  2 January 2008

Thursday 10 January 2008                                         Friday 1 February 2008

Friday 8 February 2008                                               Monday 3 March 2008

Monday 10 March 2008                                               Tuesday 1 April 2008

Wednesday 9 April 2008                                            Thursday 1 May 2008

Friday 9 May 2008                                                       Monday 2June 2008

MOnday 9 June 2008                                                  Tuesday 1 July 2008

Thursday 10 July 2008                                               Friday1 August 2008

Friday 8 August 2008                                                 Monday 1 September 2008

The revised register was published on 1 December 2007. Amendments (additions/deletions) can be made on a monthly basis on application to the Elections Office.

Forms to apply for the monthly updates are now available to download from this website.

Voter registration form

The Canvass

In order to ensure the Electoral Register is as accurate as possible a registration form will be delivered to your property in August 2007. This form will show the names of all the people who are on the register up to and including 1 August 2007, and by law it must be complted and returned.

It saves the authority time and money if you return your form straight away.

It will also asist the authority if you return the form immediately as we wil not have to send a canvaser to your property for the details.

A canvasser will deliver up to three registration forms and will call at least four times to a property where a registration form has not ben returned.

This canvas will be carried out in order to produce a revised register of electors and this will be used for any elections that may take place in 2008.

The timetable for the canvass is as follows:

• August 2007 - a registration form will be delivered to every household in the Borough;
• 15 October 2007 - is the relevant date for inclusion in the revised 2007 voters list;
• 3 December 2007 - is the publication date of the register.

Register online.

European Citizens

If you are a citizen of one of the European Union (EU) countries listed below, you can register to vote in the UK at a European parliamentary election. Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years.

European citizen voter registration form

Member States

If you are a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, Malta or Cyprus, you are eligible to register to vote at all UK elections and so do not need to use the form below.