Electoral Services privacy notice for elections and electoral registration

Why we are collecting your data

The Electoral Registration Officer is a data controller and collects the personal data you provide for the purpose of registering your right to vote. You need to be registered to be able to vote in any election or referendum for which you are eligible. We have a duty to maintain a complete and accurate register throughout the year. We will only collect the personal data we need from you, in order to do this.

What is the legal basis for processing this data?

We do this to carry out a task in the public interest and to exercise our official duty under the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 and Representation of the People Regulations 2001.

This ensures you are registered to vote in any election or referendum for which you are eligible. The law makes it compulsory to provide information to an electoral registration officer for inclusion in the full register.

We keep records about potential and actual voters, citizens, candidates, election agents and staff employed at elections. These may be written down, or kept on a computer.
The records may include:

• Your name, address, nationality and date of birth
• Unique identifiers (such as national insurance number). Signatures for absent vote checking
• Scanned application forms, documentary evidence and any letters of correspondence
• Notes about any relevant circumstances that you have told us about
• Your previous or any redirected address
• The other occupants in your home
• If you are over 75 or under 18
• Whether you have chosen to opt out of the open version of the register

Who will your information be shared with?

The information you provide is held in the electoral register which is managed by the electoral registration officer who, using information received, keep two registers – the full electoral register and the open (edited) register.

The full register is published annually and is updated at various points during the year. By law, it can only be supplied to the following people and organisations:

• British Library
• UK Statistics Authority
• Electoral Commission
• Boundary Commission for England
• Jury Summoning Bureau
• Elected representatives (MPs, MEPS, local councillors)
• Police and Crime Commissioner
• Candidates standing for elections
• Local and national political parties
• The council
• Parish and town councils
• Police forces and the National Crime Agency
• Public library or local authority archive services
• Government departments or bodies
• Credit reference agencies
• National Fraud Initiative
• Other electoral registration and returning officers

To verify your identity, the data you provide will be processed by the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service managed by the Cabinet Office. As part of this process your data will be shared with the Department of Work and Pensions and the Cabinet Office suppliers that are data processors for the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service. More information: privacy notice (GOV.UK)

We also disclose (share) your information with our software providers and contracted printers:

• Xpress Software Solutions: 303 Sperry Way, Stonehouse Business Park. Stonehouse. GL10 3UT
• Electoral Reform Services: The Election Centre, 33 Clarendon Road, London N8 0NW

We will not ordinarily send your personal data outside of the European Economic Area. However, if you are an overseas elector, we may write to you at your location, for example, to send you a postal vote.

It is a crime for anyone who has a copy of the full register to pass information from this register onto others, if they do not have a lawful reason to see it.

Anyone can inspect the full electoral register:

• Inspection of the register will be under supervision
• They can take extracts from the register, but only by handwritten notes
• Information taken must not be used for direct marketing purposes, in accordance with data protection legislation, unless it has been published in the open version
• Anyone who fails to observe these conditions is committing a criminal offence and may be charged a penalty of up to £5,000

The open register contains the same style of information as the full register, but less of it due to many people ‘opting out’. The open register is not used for elections or referendums. It is updated and published every month and can be sold to any person, organisation or company for a wide range of purposes. It is used by businesses and charities for checking names and address details; users of the register include direct marketing firms and also online directory firms.

You can choose whether or not to have your personal details excluded from the open version of the register; however, they will be included unless you ask for them to be removed. Removing your details from the open register will not affect your right to vote.

Last updated: ‎25/01/2023 14:18