Local residents to receive important voter registration information

Households in Bury will soon receive a form asking residents to check whether the information about them on Bury Council’s electoral register is correct.

The council needs to ensure that the register is up to date, so that residents can vote in the May 2016 local elections.

Mike Owen, electoral registration officer at Bury Council, said: “Anyone who wants to vote must be registered. To make sure you are able to have your say at the elections next year, simply check the form when it arrives and return the information in it as soon as possible.

“If you’re not currently registered, we’ll send you information explaining how to do this, or you can go online to apply to register at https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote”

Mr Owen added: “It’s particularly important that anyone who has moved address recently looks out for the form and checks whether they are registered.

“Research by the independent Electoral Commission shows that, across Great Britain, recent home movers are far less likely to be registered than those who have lived at the same address for a long time. The research showed that 94% of people who have been at their property for more than 16 years will be registered compared to 40% of people who have lived at an address for less than one year.

“The same research indicates that, while almost 95% of outright home owners are registered, this is the case for only 63% of private renters.”

ENDS

Press release issued: 20 July 2015.