Have you returned your electoral registration form?

Around 18,600 reminders are being sent to residents who have not responded to a letter asking them to check whether electoral registration information is correct.

It is costing Wyre Forest District Council in the region of £8,500 to send out the reminder letters.  The original forms were posted at the end of July and asked residents to confirm or change their details.  This is part of the council’s annual voter registration canvass which legislation requires the council to carry out.

The canvass is to make sure that the electoral register is up to date and the law requires residents to respond to the correspondence sent out. It also identifies any residents who are not registered so that they can be encouraged to register.  Anyone who is not currently registered will be sent information explaining how to do this or they can simply go online to apply to register at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

The council is required to issue reminder letters if households have not replied within 2 weeks of sending out the forms.  It has also been encouraging residents whose details have not changed to confirm the information online or by text or telephone.  Using one of these methods saves the council money.

Ian Miller, Electoral Registration Officer at Wyre Forest District Council said:

“Thank you to everyone who has replied to the original letter.  We sent out 46,660 forms to households and we’ve had in the region of 28,000 (60 %) returned.  Responding as soon as possible really helps us to keep costs down and is a saving to tax payers.  If you missed the original form, please respond to the reminder, and if your details haven’t changed please let us know online.

“If people don’t respond this time, we are required by law to send out a further reminder,  and if we still do not get a reply we have to send officers out to knock on doors.  This is a costly exercise and could be avoided if people were kind enough to respond sooner.”

Additional information is available on www.wyreforestdc.gov.uk/electoralregister