Don’t miss out on your chance to vote in May

Residents are being urged not to miss out on the chance to vote in this year’s elections by ensuring that they are registered to vote.

Bury Council has written to every household in the borough asking residents to check that their details are correctly listed on the Electoral Register.

People whose information is correct don’t need to do anything but those who are not included on the Register, or whose details are incorrect, are urged to add or amend their details online – go to https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Last year the Government introduced Individual Electoral Registration (IER) which replaced the Victorian system of registering to vote where the head of the household registered everyone at the property.

Mike Owen, director of resources and regulation at Bury Council, said: “With local elections coinciding with the General Election this year, it’s more important than ever that people are registered to vote. Most people we will be writing to won’t need to do anything because their details are correct, but if there is any out-of-date information or omissions, people need to update their details to make sure they’re registered. I urge everyone to read the letter and check if they need to take any action.”

As well as leaving people ineligible to vote in the elections, not being registered will also have an impact on people’s ability to obtain credit or even apply for certain jobs.

To register to vote you need your date of birth and National Insurance number handy – it’s simple, and takes only five minutes.

ENDS

Press release issued: 23 February 2015.