Are you registered to vote?

In preparation for the Parliamentary, borough and parish elections in May 2015, the borough council is encouraging residents to check that they are on the electoral role.

In February, the borough council will be sending a Household Notification Letter to every property in the borough to confirm who is on the electoral register at that address.  Residents will be able to check this letter to see if they are registered.

Anyone who isn’t registered can do so online by visiting www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.  It only takes a few minutes to register by providing date of birth, address and National Insurance number.

People who don’t have online access can complete a paper registration. To receive a paper form, call Electoral Services on 01553 616773.

Electoral Services Manager Mary Colangelo said: “With the introduction of individual electoral registration last year, it is now everyone’s individual responsibility to ensure that they have registered to vote.  The response to our initial mail out last year was good, but we are aware that there are still some people not on the register.  We hope this additional mail out will encourage them to complete their registration so that they can participate in the forthcoming elections.”

In addition to the borough-wide mail out, the council is also supporting National Voter Registration Day on 5 February 2015.

Members of the Electoral Services Team will be at RAF Marham from 10am – 1pm to help service personnel to register by providing information, advice and assistance in completing online registrations or paper registrations.

Flt Lt Gary Walker said: “We have had a lot of activity in Marham over the past few months with lots of deployments which has meant that for many of our personnel registering to vote has not been high on their agenda.  However, with the general election only a few weeks away, encouraging people to vote is extremely important.  Working with the borough council has provided us with an excellent opportunity to give some extra assistance to our service personnel to help them make sure they are registered.”

National Voter Registration Day was created by Bite the Ballot.  Find out more by visitingwww.bitetheballot.co.uk.