1.1 Electoral registration is a key part of the democratic process. In order to vote and engage fully in democratic elections you need to be on the electoral register. Unless you or a member of the household has completed and returned the registration form correctly, you will be unable to vote.

Responsibility for compiling and maintaining the electoral register in Great Britain rests mainly with local authorities

1.2 The electoral registration system in Great Britain is based on household registration, and requires a single householder to complete a registration form annually on behalf of all eligible individuals residing at each property. The system is a legacy of nineteenth century legislation under which eligibility for registration resulted from an individual's property ownership.

Electoral Registration Officers are required by law to prepare and publish an electoral register for their area each year. Electoral Registration Officers are employed by local authorities and in most cases the area for which an Electoral Registration Officers is responsible corresponds with a local authority area. In Scotland, an Electoral Registration Officer may be responsible for more than one local authority area through Joint Valuation Boards. The Great Britain electoral register therefore consists of over 400 locally compiled registers listing the names and addresses of all individuals entitled to vote in each area. There is no single national register.1.3

1.4 There have been changes to the system of registration in Great Britain in recent years such as, for example, the introduction of "rolling registration", which makes it possible for individuals to amend their details outside the period of the annual canvass. However, the annual canvass form, which is the responsibility of only one member of the household, is still the principal mechanism by which the register is compiled and maintained. (The electoral system in Northern Ireland differs and is described later on in this report.)

Electoral Registration is more challenging due to societal change and political disengagement

1.5 The electoral registration system has evolved very slowly since its creation, in contrast to more dramatic changes to the electoral population. Changes to the population of potential registrants include:

• population growth;
• increasing population movement and mobility;
• ageing of the population;
• changing living arrangements such as communal living outside traditional family groups (for example, house sharing; student halls of residence; and shared accommodation for old people) which changes the concept of a 'household';
• growth in ethnic minorities within the population; and
• increases in the number of people for whom English is a second language. This aspect is made more complicated where eligibility to vote in different types of elections differs.

Studies undertaken jointly by the Commission and the Hansard Society[10] show that levels of political engagement have remained steady over the period 2004 to 2007. However, the trend in voter turnout is downward since 1945. See Figure 1 below which illustrates the drop in voter turnout in elections.1.6

Source: ukpolitical.info/Turnout45.htm

The Electoral Commission has recognised the importance of electoral registration in setting its corporate objectives

1.7 One of the Electoral Commission's key corporate objectives is to improve electoral registration. This is because the UK needs an electoral register that can safeguard voters' rights and provide a sound basis for the election of democratic representatives. The objective is to achieve:

"Complete and accurate electoral registers and a well-run electoral registration process"

1.8 The Commission is therefore a key stakeholder in the quality of electoral registers and invests significant resources in trying to improve them. However, administration and production of electoral registers is the legal duty of Electoral Registration Officers, employed by Local Authorities. The Electoral Commission has no direct control over the Electoral Registration Officers responsible for preparing the registers and its role has been to offer advice and guidance. Until the passing of the Electoral Administration Act 2006, which gives the Commission new powers to establish performance standards for Electoral Registration Officers and to ask Electoral Registration Officers for information, the Commission had no direct levers which it could use to influence Electoral Registration Officers' performance[11].

The challenge facing those responsible for electoral registration is to ensure that all who are eligible to vote are on the register, while maintaining its accuracy

1.9 There are, however, tensions between these two facets of the objective. Accuracy requires controls and administrative processes to be in place, but these processes could discourage people from registering, especially those in the hard to reach groups identified by the Commission. These include young people; some ethnic minorities; those living in rented accommodation (compared to home owners). Mobility was identified as a key factor in under registration. Political disengagement is also likely to make non-registration more likely[12].

This report considers the success of efforts to tackle non registration and whether controls over registers are effective

1.10 The report considers the work of the Commission and Electoral Registration Officers. Part 2 examines the efforts being made to tackle non-registration, and Part 3 considers the controls designed to maintain the accuracy of the register. It also examines whether the causes of inaccuracies have been investigated and are sufficiently well understood.

1.11 Figure 2 summarises the main sources of evidence for this report. We surveyed all Electoral Registration Officers in the UK (of over 400 Electoral Registration Officers, some 120 replied[13]) to provide comparable quantitative and qualitative data on registration across the country including both factual and opinion based questions; we visited six local authorities to identify issues and good practice in registration; and spoke to relevant stakeholders. We also visited the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland (EONI), because the registration process is different in Northern Ireland.[14]

11   Although under the Representation of the People Act 1983, there are powers on electoral registration available to the Secretary of State (section 52). Back

12   Reasons for non registration are explored in detail in Part 2 of our report. Back

13   This level of response provides an accuracy of +/- 5%. Back

14   Annex 1 describes the study methodology in more detail. Back