Elections coming – but are you registered to vote?

Elections are to be held at Walsingham and Stody on 1 October, and a UK general election must happen, at the very latest, on 3 June next year. North Norfolk District Council wants every eligible elector registered to vote in these, and any other forthcoming elections. Find out about the autumn canvass of electors.

Elections are to be held at Walsingham and Stody on 1 October, and a UK general election must happen, at the very latest, on 3 June next year. North Norfolk District Council wants every eligible elector registered to vote in these, and any other forthcoming elections.

In the next few months all North Norfolk households will receive a voter registration canvass form through their door. Completing the form will ensure all eligible voters are included in the new electoral register, published on 1 December, allowing them to vote in elections at national, European, county, district and parish level.

It’s also a person’s legal duty to register. You are breaking the law if you don’t, and could face a fine of up to £1000. And because credit agencies use the electoral register as proof of residence, anyone who is not registered could be unable to get loans or credit — which could be a vital lifeline in these cash-strapped times.

Canvass forms should be returned as quickly as possible. Canvass forms received by NNDC after 13 November will not be processed, though people can still register after that using the year-round rolling registration process. (Rolling registration allows people’s details to be added to, changed or removed from the register outside the annual canvass period.)

Even if a household’s details haven’t changed in the last year, residents must check they are correct and return the form.

You can’t vote until you are 18, but the form asks for details of 16- and 17-year-olds, so those who have turned 18 before 30 November 2010 are registered if an election is called.

The canvass form is for people who are living at the property on or before 15 October. If it shows the details of people who no longer live at a property, their names should be crossed out and any new details added before the form is signed and sent back. Those moving into the property after 15 October should call NNDC and use the rolling registration process.

You can apply for a postal vote if you can’t, or don’t want, to go to a polling station. In certain circumstances voting can be done by proxy, where you appoint someone to vote on your behalf.

 

Forthcoming District and Parish Council elections

An election will be held in Waslingham Ward (which includes Barsham, Sculthorpe, Great Snoring, Little and Great Walsingham and Wighton) on 1 October to fill the District Council seat left vacant after the death in April of long-standing Councillor Tom Moore. On the same day, at Stody, there will be an election to fill one vacant Parish Council seat.

Timetables for nomination, registration and counting for those elections are attached with this news release.

There is a complication around voter registration that may affect some people in those areas.

Some people whose details have changed — for instance if they have only recently moved house, or if they are newly requesting a postal vote — may have filled in a canvass form and returned it to NNDC already. But because the new register is not published until December, those people will not be registered to vote in the coming Walsingham or Stody election.

Once a canvass form is received, NNDC will send those people forms so they can register using the rolling registration process or apply for a postal vote. The District Council needs to have those forms completed and returned by 5pm on 16 September for people to be registered to vote on 1 October.

Those whose canvass forms contain the same information as last year, or who have added themselves or changed their details using the rolling register before September, are not affected.

Notes for editor

• North Norfolk District Council is responsible for maintaining the Register of Electors and running elections in North Norfolk for all levels of local, regional, national and European government.
• Detailed information about voting — including the options for rolling registration, for voting by post (if you can’t or don’t want to get to a polling station on election day) or by proxy (where someone votes officially on your behalf, for instance if you are unwell) — can be found on our website, http://www.northnorfolk.org/council.asp  
• NNDC is also looking for staff to help at polling stations. If you would like to apply please download a questionnaire.

ENDS