I have written up these notes about the Electoral register and the annual canvass.
As other have pointed out the 2019 annual canvas was greatly affected by the timing of the election.
As I have written under register to vote when you do so your identity must be checked before you can get onto the register. It is not difficult to see that delays in verifying identity when large numbers of persons were registering to vote close to the deadline, might lead to many people not getting onto the register in time.
For 2019 the deadline to register to vote was 26th November and for LA the deadline was 29 November in order to publish the register on 1 December.
According to press reports 660,000 people registered on 26th December, a huge number to verify identity in 3 Days
Electoral Registers.
Responsibility for preparing electoral registers was taken away from the overseers of the poor and given to local authorities with the passage of the Representation of the people act 1918. The ‘head of household’ was responsible for registering everyone who lived at the address.
In June 2014 the electoral registration system was changed again with the passage of the Electoral registration and administration act 2013. The new system is called Individual Electoral Registration (IER).
For a summary of this process see Register to vote.
If you don’t know whether you are registered to vote, it’s possible to check under this new system by contacting the Elections Office at your local authority.
You will remain on the electoral register unless and until:
• You are not entitled to be registered in respect of the address.
• You cease to be resident at the address or cease to satisfy the conditions for registration.
• You were registered as the result of an application for registration made by someone else (i.e. not the individual whose details are provided on the application and who has declared that the information provided is true) or your entry has been altered as the result of an application for a change of name made by someone else.
Annual Canvass
Under this new system an annual canvass takes place and the revised electoral register is published on 1 December. The only exception to this rule is if there has been an election during the canvass.
A Household Enquiry Form (HEF) is sent to all properties in the registration area within the period of 1 July to 30 November. This is a paper HEF in the prescribed format and cannot be sent by email or by any other electronic means.
The HEF may be pre-printed with certain information about each person currently registered at that address namely:
• Full name and nationality.
• An indication as to whether each person listed on the form is aged 76 or over.
• An indication of whether each person is omitted from the edited register and information on how they can change their preference (‘omitted’ includes where the person has previously opted-out of the edited register or has at any time requested that their personal data is removed from the edited register until further notice under Article 21 of the General Data Protection Regulation.
• An indication as to whether each person has an existing postal or proxy voting arrangement.
The HEF must be accompanied by a covering letter and a pre-addressed, pre-paid reply envelope in which the form can be returned. See examples below.
A HEF cannot be used to register people. It is a mechanism to collect information about who is resident and eligible to register at a particular address.
Any potential new electors identified (for example, where a name has been added to a HEF) will be sent an Invitation to register (ITR) and a registration application form.
By law a person who has received a HEF must provide the information that it requires to the ERO, but there is no requirement for the form itself to be returned. This includes where there are changes to the information pre-printed on the HEF or new information is being provided.
There is a criminal penalty of a fine up to a maximum of £1,000 for failing to provide the information required by the HEF to the ERO.
The penalty for providing false information to an ERO is up to six months imprisonment, an unlimited fine in England and Wales or a fine of up to £5,000 in Scotland.
Revised Electoral Register
The revised version of the electoral register must be published by 1 December which applies even if the date falls on a weekend or bank holiday.
The only exception to this rule is if there has been an election during the canvass when the revised version of the electoral register must be published by 1 February of the following year.
The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) must publish:
• The full register of electors for all election types combined as far as possible into one register and containing the appropriate franchise markers.
• The edited register which is an exact copy of the full register but with the exclusion of those who have opted out of their details appearing on it.
• The list of overseas electors.
The full register must contain the name, address, nationality, franchise marker and elector number of every eligible elector.
The register is divided into polling districts and each one is given a unique set of letters. Each elector is given a number which as far as is reasonably practicable, are allocated in such a way that the numbers run sequentially in each part of the register. The polling district letters and the number together are known as the elector number.
The names of electors who may only vote in certain types of elections must be prefixed in the register with certain letters called franchise markers.
E indicates that the elector is an overseas elector who is also a peer eligible to vote in the House of Lords and is only entitled to vote at European Parliamentary elections.
F indicates that the elector is an overseas elector who is only entitled to vote at UK Parliamentary and European Parliamentary elections.
G indicates that the elector is a citizen of a member state of the European Union (except a Commonwealth country or the Republic of Ireland) who is only entitled to vote at local government elections.
K indicates that the elector is a citizen of a member state of the European Union (except a Commonwealth country or the Republic of Ireland) who is entitled to vote at European Parliamentary and local government elections.
L indicates that the elector is a peer eligible to vote in the House of Lords who is entitled to vote at European Parliamentary and local government elections.
N indicate that the elector is anonymous
The table below shows an example of some of the formatting for an electoral register and an accompanying explanation in the right-hand column.
Sample Electoral Register
Elector number Franchise marker Name Address Description (not shown on register)
1 Evans, Gareth 1, The Street Ordinary elector; can vote at all elections
2 12/06/yyyy Juba, Charlotte 2, The Street Attainer; can vote if poll is on or after date shown
3 G Chamberlain, Louise 2, The Street Local government elector only
4 K Mackenzie, Scott 3, The Street Local government and European Parliamentary elector only
5 L Pack, Daniel 4, The Street Peer; eligible to vote in the House of Lords, cannot vote at a UK Parliamentary election
Other Electors
Elector number Franchise marker Name Address Description (not shown on register)
6 F Jolly, Simon Overseas elector; cannot vote at local government elections
7 Watts, Julie Service elector; can vote at all elections
8 N Anonymous elector; can vote at all elections
Example of HEF can be downloaded here
or email
[email protected] for a copy