The Representation of the People Act 1983 requires Electoral Registration Officers to prepare and publish a register for their area each year and maintain it throughout the year. It is their statutory duty to include the names of everyone who appears to them to be eligible, taking reasonable steps to obtain the required information. A canvass form is sent to each household in the UK every autumn for completion and return by the householder. The form asks for the details of all those eligible to vote (or eligible to vote in the near future) who are resident on 15 October. If an Electoral Registration Officer considers someone is entitled to be registered as an elector, they have no discretion to omit that person's name from the register.

Although registration is not in itself compulsory, an Electoral Registration Officer has the power to require information for the purposes of maintaining the register of electors. A penalty for failing to complete and return the electoral registration form or for giving false information was first imposed in 1918 and was extended to include rolling registration in 2006. The current penalty for this offence is a fine not exceeding £1,000.

The electoral register is, by law, a public document. It is available for inspection to allow members of the public and political parties to check to ensure that all eligible names have been included and that the names of ineligible people have not. Until 2002, any company, organisation or person could buy a copy of the register to use for any purpose. The law has now changed so that electors have some choice about who can buy details of their name and address. There are now two versions of the register produced: full and edited.

The full register lists the name and address of everyone who is registered to vote and is updated every month. You do not have a choice about your details being on this register. A copy is held at your local council (and electoral registration office in Scotland). Anyone can look at it and make notes but copies can only be supplied for certain purposes. The main use of the full register is to show who can vote in elections and referendums. Credit reference agencies can use it, but only to check your name and address if you are applying for credit. It can also be used for law enforcement.

The edited register is available for general sale and can be used for any purpose. You can choose not to be on the edited register, which is kept separate from the full register. The edited register can be bought by any person, company or organisation and can be used for commercial activities such as marketing.

The Representation of the People Act 2000 introduced voluntary "rolling" electoral registration to enable people to be added to the electoral register or change their registration details at any time of the year rather than on a single date

The Electoral Administration Act 2006 has introduced a number of measures aimed at increasing the number of people registered to vote and at improving the accuracy of the register. The Act gives new powers to Electoral Registration Officers to acquire information for the electoral register and applies fines for giving false information in the annual canvass. The annual canvass is the annual exercise during which the register is updated.