Residents in St Albans are being urged to return their Voter Registration Forms so they can vote in the Police and Crime Commissioner elections on 15 November.
St Albans City and District Council is sending letters to all the households in the District who have yet to return a completed form asking them to do so.
Annual voter registration forms requesting elector information were sent to more than 58,000 homes in the District in June
Mike Lovelady, Electoral Registration Officer for St Albans said: “We have had an excellent response so far and more than 36,000 households have registered. However, there are still 22,000 households that have not yet registered.
“You have to be on the electoral register if you want to have your say in the first Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Some people assume that by paying council tax they are automatically registered to vote, but that is not the case. If you are eligible to vote, please return the form as soon as possible. Alternatively, if you have no changes to make to any of the details on the form you can register through the internet, freephone or text registration service.”
Full details of the internet, freephone and text registration service are available on the voter registration form.
For further information, contact the Electoral Services Office on 01727 819294 or email elections@stalbans.gov.uk.
Contact for the media:
Amanda Wilkinson,
Media and Internal Communications Officer
St Albans City and District Council
Tel: 01727 819317
E-mail: amanda.wilkinson@stalbans.gov.uk
www.stalbans.gov.uk
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/StAlbansCouncil
Notes:
1. An annual canvass is carried out each year to update the register of electors. This is usually carried out in the autumn, with the revised register published on 1 December.
2. This year, the canvass has been brought forward so that an up-to-date register can be published in time for the Police and Crime Commissioner elections on 15 November 2012. The revised register will be published on 16 October 2012.
3. More than 58,000 voter registration forms were sent out by the District Council in June. So far 36,000 households (62%) have registered, with over 13,000 doing so through the internet, freephone and text registration service.
4. Reminder letters will be sent to the 22,000 households that have not yet responded. If we have not received a response by the end of August, canvassers will visit these homes in September to try and obtain the information we need to compile an accurate revised register.
5. If electors are not on the register when it is published or move to a new address during the year, they can still register to vote by completing a registration form. The deadline to register to vote for the Police and Crime Commissioner elections is 31 October 2012.
6. Photo provided courtesy of the Electoral Commission