This privacy notice explains how personal information is going to be used, what for, who it will be shared with and why.
We collect and hold personal information for the purpose of registering your right to vote. You need to be registered to be able to vote in any election or referendum for which you are eligible. We have a duty to maintain a complete and accurate register throughout the year. We will only collect the personal data we need from you, in order to do this.
We process personal data because it is necessary to comply with our legal obligations under the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 and the Representation of the People Regulations 2001.
This ensures you are registered to vote in any election or referendum for which you are eligible. The law makes it compulsory to provide information to an electoral registration officer for inclusion in the full register.
We keep records about potential and actual electors, voters, citizens, candidates and their agents, staff employed on elections. These may be written down, or kept on computer.
These records may include:
To verify your identity, the data you provide will be processed by the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service managed by the Cabinet Office. As part of this process your data will be shared with the Department of Work and Pensions and the Cabinet Office suppliers that are data processors for the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service.
You can find more information about this here: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
The full register is published once a year and is updated every month and can only be supplied to the following people and organisations:
We also share your information with our Software providers and contracted printers.
It is a crime for anyone who has a copy of the full register to pass information from this register on to others, if they do not have a lawful reason to see it.
Anyone can inspect the full electoral register.
The open register contains the same information as the full register, but is not used for elections or referendums. It is updated and published every month and can be sold to any person, organisation or company for a wide range of purposes. It is used by businesses and charities for checking names and address details, users of the register include direct marketing firms and also online directory firms.
You can choose whether or not to have your personal details included in the open version of the register, however, they will be included unless you ask for them to be removed. Removing your details from the open register will not affect your right to vote.
We will only keep your information for as long as we need to, so we can give you the service you need, unless we must keep it for legal reasons. The Electoral Registration Officer and Returning Officer will retain you details for the purpose of preparing and conducting elections for as long as you remain registered with them or as required by the Representation of the People Act 1983 (as amended) as detailed in the retention and disposal schedule.
You have the right to:
To exercise any of these rights please contact the Electoral Services Team and/or email [email protected].
Where personal data is processed on the basis of consent, you will have the right to withdraw that consent. However the Electoral Registration Officer and Returning Officer process personal data that it is necessary to do so in order to comply with our legal obligations and to enable us to perform tasks carried out in the public interest.
Liz Read, Electoral Services Manager
You have the right to submit a complaint if you are unhappy with the way your request is handled or disagree with a decision made by the council regarding your data. In these circumstances you can contact the Data Protection Team (DPO) and request a review of the decision. [email protected]
If you are not satisfied with any outcome from the DPO you may wish to apply to the Information Commissioner's Office at:
The Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF.
Date of last review: September 2020