Following approximately 31,000 reminder canvass forms being sent by Conservative led Wiltshire Council, personal canvassers will soon be leaving calling cards at the final non-responding addresses to ensure that the county's electoral register is up to date.
Each year the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) has a legal requirement to conduct a canvass to ensure the electoral register is accurate and complete.
Wiltshire residents have already been contacted via email and post and asked to confirm any changes to their details at www.householdresponse.com. The correspondence also included security codes and steps on how to access their household details. So far, the council has received 56% responses to the canvass forms.
Wiltshire Council will employ personal canvassers to leave calling cards at properties where residents have not already responded to the annual canvass process. There will be clear instructions about the process on every correspondence sent as part of the canvass if a response or change is required.
Wiltshire Council encourages all residents to respond to the annual canvass electronically if they can - it is more convenient for residents and saves the council money and time.
As part of this process, Wiltshire Council or the Electoral Commission will never ask people for their bank details.
Terence Herbert, Wiltshire Council Chief Executive and Returning Officer, said:
We have had an excellent response so far to the Annual Canvass, but we now need to target those households who have not as yet responded.
We will shortly be employing personal canvassers to capture the final households required to complete their details for the annual canvass process. Please take a few minutes to check the details on the form or email and confirm by using the Household Response Service website - www.householdresponse.com, phoning 0800 1979871, by texting 'No Change' to 80212 or by post.
If the details are incorrect or have changed you can amend the information on the Household Respond service website or by contacting the electoral services team either by post or by calling 0300 456 0112.
People who are not correctly registered, could lose their eligibility to vote in any future local or general elections, therefore it's crucial that all details we hold are correct.
More details, including FAQs can be found at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/elections-annual-canvass.
