Electoral registration

To vote you have to be 18 or over and either a British citizen or a citizen of another Commonwealth country or the Republic of Ireland. At certain elections (including European Parliamentary and Local Government elections) citizens of other European Union countries can also vote. But in all cases you can only vote if your name is also included on the Register of Electors. This register is simply a list of people eligible to vote and it is published every year on 1 December.

Every year at the end of the summer the Electoral Registration Officer sends a registration form to each household in the area. By law the names of every eligible person who is 18, or who will be 18 by 30 November in the next year, have to be written on the registration form.

If your household has not received a form by mid-September, please contact us and we will send you one.

We can also update the Register at the beginning of every month between January and September. So, if you move home, you can register at your new address by completing a Voter Registration Form.

Why should I register?

• If you do not register you will not be able to exercise your democratic right to vote
• It is much harder to obtain credit if you are not on the Register
• It is a legal requirement that householders return the annual electoral registration form

Who should be registered?
Include on the form the names of: -

• Every adult who lives at your address (except for anyone listed in the "Don’t Include" section of the form).
• 16 and 17 year olds together with their dates of birth.
• Anyone who normally lives at your address but who is temporarily away (including students if they live at your address out of term time and people in hospital).
• Other residents, guests and lodgers if they have no other home.
• Merchant Seamen who live at your address when they are not at sea.

When you have completed the form, you have to sign it and send it back to the Council. You can fold the form to show the return address on the outside and then seal it. Then post it. You do not need a stamp. When we receive your form we will use the information on it to make up the register of electors.

The Register has several parts which are called polling districts. Each polling district register includes the addresses of the properties in that area. The names of the streets are arranged alphabetically and for each street the names of the eligible electors are shown alongside the numbers or the names of the properties where they live. The Register does not include telephone numbers or titles. The ages of electors are not marked except for 16 and 17 year olds who reach voting age during the life of the Register.

There are now two versions of the Register - a full Register and an edited Register. Anyone is able to ask to see the Register of Electors. The full register includes the name of everyone who is registered as an elector. It is a public document and is available for inspection under supervision at the Council’s Offices in Corks Lane, Hadleigh. The full register is used for electoral purposes but copies can also be purchased by Credit Reference Agencies. They may only use the information on it for purposes specified by law. The full version is also available to organisations for law enforcement purposes. The edited version of the Register is available for inspection and sale to any person or organisation and can be used by them for any purpose (including commercial and direct mail operations). Click here to order a copy of the edited register. If you want, you can choose not to have your name appear on the edited Register by placing a cross (X) in the appropriate box on the Registration of Electors form.

You can still apply to have your name added to the Register of Electors even after the Register has been published in December. To do this you will have to fill in a Voter Registration Form Please note that you will have to print off a copy of the form, complete and sign it and send it back to us by post or by fax or, if you have a scanner, as an e-mail attachment. There are separate notes with the form telling you how the monthly updating procedure works.

What about Members of HM Forces and other people living away from home?

• Service voters and their husbands or wives can register as electors by completing the form delivered to each household during the Electoral Registration Officer’s annual canvass of residential properties. However, they can, if they prefer, register by Service Voter’s Declaration. This Declaration enables people to register as electors for the addresses where they would be living but for the fact that they are in the services.
• There are similar special arrangements for Crown Servants overseas and for British Council employees. There is a separate form of Application to Register as a Crown Servant or British Council employee available on this website.
• People who are currently homeless or who are resident at mental hospitals (otherwise than as detained offenders) or who are resident at places where they have been remanded in custody (but not having been convicted of any offence) may register by means of a Declaration of Local Connection.

If you are a British Citizen but you live overseas you can still apply to vote in UK Parliamentary and European Parliamentary Elections. To do this, you will have to be registered as an "overseas elector" for the constituency where you were last registered to vote in the UK. If you were last registered in the Babergh area less than 15 years ago, you can apply to us to be registered to vote here. You can use the Overseas Electors Application Form on this website or you can get one from your nearest British Consular or Diplomatic Mission.

British Citizens living overseas can apply for a postal vote or a proxy vote. If you choose to vote by post you should understand that it may be difficult for you to receive and return your postal ballot paper before the close of the poll. If it is not received by the close of poll it cannot be counted.

Citizens of the European Union (EU) are entitled to vote at European Parliamentary elections in their member state of residence if they complete Form UC1. The form is for European Parliamentary elections only. Citizens of other EU countries register as electors in the normal way using the annual household or rolling registration forms but, if they do not also complete Form UC1, they would be entitled to vote at Local Government elections only.