Access to the electoral register
We cannot tell you if you are on the electoral register, but we do often receive enquiries about it. The register is held at your local electoral registration office (generally, your local council office in England and Wales, the Valuation Joint Board in Scotland and EONI in Northern Ireland), who you should contact if you are unsure if you are on the register or would like to check details on this. You can find out the contact details at our website aboutmyvote.co.uk. Here you will also find downloadable voter registration forms and applications for postal voting.
The electoral register lists the name and address of everyone who has registered to vote. By law, your local electoral registration office has to make the electoral register available for anyone to look at.
Until 2002, any company, organisation or person could buy a copy of the register. The Government has changed the law so that now you have some choice about who can buy details of your name and address. Under the changes there are two versions of the register: the full version and the edited version.
When you fill in your electoral registration form, you will be able to choose whether you want your details included in the edited register.
Two versions of the register
The full register has the names and addresses of everyone registered to vote and is updated every month. Anyone can look at it by visiting their local council offices, but copies can only be supplied for certain purposes, such as elections and law enforcement. Credit reference agencies are also allowed to use the full register, but only to check your name and address if you are applying for credit, and to help stop 'money laundering'. Anyone who has a copy of the register will be committing a criminal offence if they unlawfully pass on information from it. You do not have a choice about your name and address being on this register.
The edited register will be available for general sale and can be used for any purpose. You can choose not to be on it. It will be kept separate from the full register and updated every month. The edited register can be bought by any person, company or organisation and could be used for different purposes such as checking your identity and commercial activities such as marketing.
The choice you have to make
If you do tick the box on the voter registration form, your name and address will only appear on the full register, which will only be used for certain lawful purposes, such as elections, law enforcement and checking applications for credit.
If you do not tick the box on the voter registration form, your name will also appear on the edited version of the register, which anyone can buy. This means anyone can use your details for any purpose. The person who fills in and signs the registration form must ask each person named on the form if they want their details to be included on the edited register and so available for anyone to buy. So, you must tick the box if you do not want your details to appear on the edited register which anyone can buy. Do not tick the box if you want your name and address to be included on the edited register and available to anyone who wants a copy of it.
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