Running electoral registration - England

When a complete attestation is received, you must assess whether the attestation has been made by a qualifying attestor and is valid. Some of the criteria differs depending on whether an applicant is registered as a domestic or overseas elector.1   

All qualifying attestors must: 

• confirm they are not the spouse, civil partner, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, child or grandchild of the applicant
• not have already signed identity attestations for two other applicants since either the last publication of the annual register or when the attestor was first added to the register, whichever is the most recent

Where the applicant is a domestic elector the qualifying attestor must be:

• registered as an elector to vote in a local authority area in England or Wales 
• a person of good standing in the community

Where the applicant is registered as an overseas elector the qualifying attestor must be:

• registered to vote
• aged 18 or over

Good standing

There is no precise definition of good standing; however, for the purposes of an attestation, you should consider it to mean someone who has credentials that can be checked and would suffer professional or reputational damage if they were to provide a false attestation. The list in the table below is not definitive but is intended to illustrate which professions could be described as of good standing:

It is important to note that an unemployed/retired person who is of good standing in the community is not precluded from attesting an application.

You must judge each attestation on its individual merits rather than apply a blanket policy.

You must assess whether the attestation satisfies the relevant requirements, by answering two further questions:

Is the qualifying attestor a registered elector?2

If the applicant for the absent vote is a domestic elector, their qualifying attestor must be a registered elector in a local authority area in England or Wales. 

If the applicant for the absent vote is registered as an overseas elector, their qualifying attestor must be a registered elector. 

If the qualifying attestor’s address is in the same local authority area as the applicant, you should check your electoral register and your electoral management software to check that the qualifying attestor satisfies this condition.

If the qualifying attestor’s address is not in the same local authority area as the applicant, you should contact the attestor’s ERO to check if the qualifying attestor fulfils these conditions.

Has the qualifying attestor signed no more than two identity attestations since either the last publication of the register or since the attestor was added to it, whichever is the most recent?

Qualifying attestors are limited to signing identity attestations for no more than two applicants in any one electoral year (normally from 1 December to 30 November), or since their entry was added to the register in that local authority area, whichever is the shortest period.

This allows the attestor’s ERO to confidently supply the required information without being required to account for attestations made whilst the attestor was registered elsewhere.

Electoral management software should record each time an elector has signed an attestation.  Where the limit has been reached, you should reject the attestation for this reason. This does not prevent the applicant from seeking another attestation from a different elector. You should process attestations in the order they are received.

If the attestor fulfils all the conditions, the attestation will be accepted, and the attestor’s ERO will be able to record this against the elector’s record. This will then count towards this elector’s total allowable attestations.