Putting voters first

As we prepare for the European Parliamentary and English local government elections on 4 June, our aim of ensuring integrity and public confidence in the democratic process is crucial.

In an elections special for the register, our new Chair, Jenny Watson, talks about our work towards this aim and the need to truly put voters’ interests at the heart of our activities, electoral policy and decision making.

Click here to read our elections special

Welcome!

Welcome to issue 4 of the register - bringing you the latest bitesize news, views and features on elections, democracy and the work of the Commission every quarter.

Don't forget! If you still receive a hard-copy of the register and want to do your bit for the environment – let us know so we can remove you from our hard-copy mailing list. 

Register to Vote Week

Register to Vote Week launched in Great Britain on 4 May as part of our public awareness campaigns ahead of the European Parliamentary and English local elections on 4 June.

The week, running until 10 May,  will be a focal point for events carried out by both the Commission and local authorities to encourage people to register to vote ahead of the 19 May deadline. 

We have also launched interactive 'I've registered to vote' web banners, to be added to blogs, websites and email signatures, to encourage registration.  

Performance standards

The 4 June European Parliamentary elections will be the first elections where we will collect data on the performance of Returning Officers (ROs). We will publish our first analysis on performance against the standards in Autumn 2009 as part of our overall elections reporting. We published our analysis on the performance of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to the ERO standards (pdf) in early April and will work with EROs and electoral administrators to take forward ideas for improvement.

See performance against the standards, as well as national results here

Individual electoral registration

The Commission welcomes the Government’s proposal to bring forward plans for individual electoral registration in Great Britain through the Political Parties and Elections Bill.

The introduction of individual registration for electors would mean a change to the current system of electoral registration, where one person in a household can register everyone. Under the new proposals, everyone within a household will register independently.

Access our full response here

Elections briefing materials

Our templates, presentations and guidance to support the briefing of polling station, postal voting, count and frontline staff, as well as candidates and agents, are now available.

We have also distributed electoral offence summary pocket guides to police to help them deal with electoral malpractice and guides on postal voting for party workers and Royal Mail postal workers.

Information

By subscribing to this newsletter  you are made aware and agree that:

• we may store information about you to help us analyse how people read the register and improve our service to our readers
• we will not disclose your information to any third parties

You can easily unsubscribe from the register using the link below.