Notices of
Elections/Vacancies - 2008
How to Register to Vote
You can now apply to be included on the Electoral Register
whenever you move house and not just during the annual canvass. In
the run up to an election you can register upto 11 working days
before the election date. You can do this by requesting and
completing a ‘rolling registration’ form.
To request a Rolling Registration Form please telephone our office
on (01502) 523238 or email
elections@waveney.gov.uk
.
These forms are also sent out via our Council Tax department to all
households where there is a change in the Council Tax details in
order to help keep the Register up-to-date.
The ‘Canvass period’ comes into effect from August
to mid-November and this is when we send a canvass form to every
household in the District. The information we collect on the
canvass forms during the canvass is used to produce the new
Register of Electors each year on 1December.
These procedures try to ensure that as many people as possible are
registered at the correct address in time to vote when an election
is held.
As well as informing Electoral Services of your change address
you will also need to inform our Council Tax department, your
bank/building society, the Passport Office and the DVLA (all these
need to be notified separately).
Please note you must be living at an address and it
must be your main residence in order for you to register there. You
may not register if you are only temporarily living at an address
or on holiday at an address. By signing the declaration at the
bottom of the registration form you are confirming that the
information you are providing is true and accurate, if you complete
and submit a form with false information on it you will be
committing a fraudulent offence.
The Full and Edited Electoral Register
Everyone who is eligible to vote is included in the ‘Full’ Register
of Electors. There is also an ‘Edited’ Register of Electors but
each individual can choose whether or not they want their details
to be included in this Edited version as it is available for public
inspection and can be purchased by anyone for any purpose,
including Direct Marketing companies. To ‘opt-out’ of being
included in this Edited version you need to indicate this in the
relevant box on your canvass form/rolling registration
application.
If you would like to purchase the Edited Register in whole or in
part please download and complete the request form from the link
below.
Absent Voting (Voting by Post or by Proxy)
To apply to vote by post or by proxy (to appoint someone to cast
your vote on your behalf) you need to complete an application form.
Please complete the online form below to request an application
to vote by post or call our office on 01502 523238 to request a
form.
Voting by post is available to anyone that is registered to vote,
this can be applied for throughout the year but an application must
be received by 5pm 11 days before an election in order to be valid
for that election.
Voting by proxy for a specific election date is available to anyone
but an application must be received by 5pm 6 days before the
election in order for it to be valid for that election.
We can also register you for proxy voting facilities valid for a
three year period if you regularly work away, or are a student
studying away from home, or find it physically difficult to attend
the polling station, subject to legal requirements. In order to
obtain a proxy vote for a three year period for one of the reasons
given above you will need to complete a specific application form
which can be requested from our office, the application requires a
signature from a qualified professional who can confirm that the
reason given is true and accurate.
Postal votes can only be dispatched after the deadline for
applications has passed (11 days before the election), please be
aware of this when applying. We do our best to ensure that all
applications and postal votes are dealt with as efficiently and
quickly as possible but we are reliant on the postal service to
deliver all Electoral documentation and as such some parts of this
process are out of our control.
Proof of Residency:
As well as being used to show who is entitled to vote at an
election, the Electoral Register is used by many other bodies to
confirm an individuals residency at a property. Financial
institutions and Credit Reference Agencies use the Electoral
Register to check that an individual is registered at an address in
order to open a bank account/obtain a loan, they are entitled to
hold their own copy of the Register for this purpose. Their records
may not always be completely up-to-date at any one time and so for
this reason if you are informed by a Credit Reference Agency or
bank that you are not on the Electoral Register but you believe you
are, it is worth checking with us direct as we have the complete,
up-to-date Register.
We can provide individuals with a ‘Certificate of Residency’ as
proof of residency if they are registered – this will be posted out
to the registered address on request. Note these letters can only
be produced between 1 December and 1 September each year and not
within the annual canvass period.
If you would like to contact us regarding any Electoral matter
please use the contact details below:
Address: Electoral Services Office, Town Hall, High Street,
Lowestoft NR32 1HS
Telephone:
01502 523238
Fax:
01502 523005
Email:
elections@waveney.gov.uk
Relevant Links
Local
Election Results - May 2007
View Relative Electoral Areas information (25Kb)
(Opens new window)
How to Become
a Councillor
The Electoral Commission :
www.electoralcommission.org.uk
(opens new window)
HMSO :
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/legislation/uk.htm