Running electoral registration - Wales

All applications for Voter Authority Certificates and Anonymous Elector’s Documents will be managed in the ERO Portal (EROP). 

Access to the functionality for processing Anonymous Elector’s Document applications will be able to be restricted to specific users due to the sensitive nature of this data.

Guidance on how to access and use the EROP will be provided by DLUHC.

On downloading or entering application data to the EROP, the EROP will automatically conduct checks to ensure that an application meets the relevant conditions, which are:1  

• that the application is complete and that the person making the application is the person named in the application
• that the applicant appears on the parliamentary or local government register of electors in Wales and is entitled to vote at a PCC election for a police area in Wales

To satisfy the first condition, any person making a new application for a Voter Authority Certificate or Anonymous Elector’s Document must provide personal identifiers which are used to verify the applicant’s identity against DWP records. The results of these checks, which will appear in the EROP, must be taken into account in determining the application.2  

If the applicant’s identity cannot be verified using DWP records because they are under 16, their identifiers may also be matched to any educational record relating to the applicant.3  

If an applicant’s identity cannot be verified using DWP records, their identifiers may be matched with local data sources. 

If you are still unable to verify the applicant’s identity using local data sources, you should follow the exceptions or attestation process.

To satisfy the second condition, a check of the relevant electoral register held in your electoral management system will be conducted. 

The result of this check will appear in the EROP to confirm whether or not a person who has applied for a Voter Authority Certificate or an Anonymous Elector’s Document is a registered elector. This data will also tell you about any franchise marker associated with an elector so that you can establish if they are included on a relevant register.

Where an applicant is found to be a registered elector, the EROP will indicate that the information matches a register entry, and you will be able to consider the rest of the application details.

Where an applicant is found to have an entry waiting to be added to the register, you can determine the application for a Voter Authority Certificate once the five day objection period has passed. 

You will need to ensure that you return to the EROP to process the applications of those waiting to be added following the objection period.

If the results show an applicant is not included on a relevant electoral register or has not applied to be included on a relevant electoral register, you should decide whether to reject the application at this point, wait and check again at a later date, or make such other manual check as may be helpful. 

This could be to see if the applicant has made an application to register at the same time as they made an application for a Voter Authority Certificate or Anonymous Elector’s Document, and the data check from the registration process has not yet been returned or may be to establish if the reason a match cannot be found is due to a minor difference. For example, an elector’s name may have been misspelt or may have legally changed since they applied to register. You should contact the elector to make any enquires necessary so that you can be satisfied that the entry on the register is the same person who has made the application for the Voter Authority Certificate or Anonymous Elector’s Document.