It seems almost certain that – whether before or after Brexit – a general election will be coming soon to the UK.

With this in mind, Durham County Council’s ongoing efforts to update the electoral register have acquired an additional urgency.

Earlier in 2019, the council sent out letters to all County Durham households asking the inhabitants to confirm their voter information and to tell the council of any changes.

The council needs to know that its current data is correct in order to make sure that all County Durham residents will be eligible to vote in national and local elections.

To do this, the council will need to ensure that all residents are entered on the 2020 electoral register. Those who do not respond to the council’s letter in time might not be able to vote if an election is called.

In addition to giving you the right to vote, being on the electoral register can also improve your credit rating.

From this week onwards, canvassers will be visiting homes that still haven’t replied to the letters. The canvassers will bring along voter registration forms and will be able to assist anyone who has difficulty in completing them.

The canvassers will be wearing Durham County Council identification badges, which should be clearly visible at all times.

The council’s electoral services manager, David Collingwood, said, “It’s extremely important to respond to the annual electoral register update form because if you don’t, you won’t be able to vote.”

“Even if your details are the same, we need to know about it so I would encourage people to respond to us as soon as possible.”

To learn more, please telephone 03000 261 212 or email electoralservices@durham.gov.uk.

Large numbers of people have been registering to vote recently as a general election – and possibly another Brexit referendum – loom. At the beginning of September, more than 115,000 registered to vote in just two days while statistics showed that around 27,000 per day had been registering during August.

(Featured image courtesy of Bill Smith, from Flickr Creative Commons)


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DavidSunderland
David writes about local news, thought provoking stories, and yearns to capture the community spirit with a unique writing style.

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