Get registered !

Electoral canvass-Don't lose your right to vote

Electoral canvass forms are being delivered to every property in the borough from 6 October until 16 December 2013. The Cheshire West and Chester revised electoral register will be published on 17 February 2014.

Completing the annual canvass form is easy, if there are no changes to your household please respond by any of the following channels:
Register online
Register by free phone: 0808 284 1477 (English) 0808 284 1477 (other languages)
Register by text: 07786 209 376 (English) 07786 209 377

If you do have any changes, please amend the form, sign it and return it in the prepaid envelope provided.

Where to find help

If you need any help in completing the canvass form, please contact the Democratic Services team:
Email: elreg_int@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk
Telephone: 01244 977084

Who should be registered?

Any British, Commonwealth, Irish or European Union citizen should be included on the register of electors.

This includes:

• Anyone who normally lives at an address
• Long-term residents, guests or lodgers, including merchant seamen who live there when they are not at sea
• All people aged 16 and 17
• Anyone who will be working away from home for less than six months
• Overseas electors

The following people should not be included on the form:

• Foreign nationals – except for citizens of the Irish Republic, Commonwealth citizens and citizens of the European Union
• People under 16 years old
• Members of HM forces or their wives and husbands if they have made a Service Declaration
• Crown servants and British Council staff who are working abroad or their wives and husbands if they are also living abroad with their partners

The electoral register

Two versions of the register are now published, a full version and an edited version.

The full and edited registers will be published on 17 February 2014.

Rolling registration for monthly changes to the register start again from April 2014.
All new electors registering will be given the option of not appearing on the edited version of the register. Please use the form below to ensure your details are added to the register:
Registration form

The full register

The full register lists everyone who is entitled to vote. Anyone can look at it on council premises, but you cannot make a photocopy of the register and you can only take handwritten notes from it.

Only certain people and organisations can have copies of the full register, and they can only use it for specified purposes. These include electoral purposes, the prevention and detection of crime and checking your identity when you have applied for credit.

The law states who can have a copy of the full register and what they can use it for. Broadly speaking it is only used for elections, preventing and detecting crime and checking applications for credit.

It is a criminal offence for them to pass it on to anyone else or to use it for any other purpose other than those specified.

It is not possible to search the full register nationally, as the full registers are only available to view at each local electoral registration office.

The edited register

The edited register leaves out the names and addresses of people who have asked for them to be excluded from that version of the register. The edited register can be sold to anyone who requests it, and used for any purpose. Cheshire West and Chester Council may use the information we hold for the prevention and detection of fraud, which also includes for the assessment and/or collection of any tax or duty. This will include sharing of information held internally and with external organisations where the law allows.

If you do not wish your details to be available on the edited register, please tick the opt out box on your canvass form. If you wish to permanently opt out of the edited register please complete the section 11 form supplied with your canvass form or download a copy here for completion:
Section 11 form

The council does not make the edited register available online. This practice is common to many other councils.

However, some commercial organisations will allow you to search the electoral register for the whole of the UK in return for a registration fee.