Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Electoral Register Form
I've just cast my eye over the latest electoral register form sent out by the council. It is infuriatingly arcane. Here is what I have sent to the council; am I being unfair? (two e-mails, the second after I spent a few minutes trying to find out how to opt out of the open register).
To whom it may concern,
I am writing to complain about the latest electoral registration form on three grounds, and to obtain further information:
1) Am I right in thinking it is only around four or five months since I last had to fill one of these in? Such frequent re-registering is exclusive and anti-democratic
2) The postal or proxy vote column says "A". What on earth does that mean? Am I to assume it means a) postal and b) proxy? If so, why is there no key? Nowhere on the form can I find a key explaining what the letter A means here. Such lack of clarity is again exclusive and anti-democratic. The electoral register form should be absolutely clear and as simple as possible.
3) Why am I now on the open register when I have clearly stated in the past that I do not want to be?
Yours
William Booth
and then
As a follow up to my previous complaint, I am now complaining further about the opt out of the open register. How do I do this? On the form it sends me to www.gov.uk/register-to-vote yet when I get there it sends me back to the local Haringey site. Why is the form misleading in this way? And once back at the Haringey site (http://voting.haringey.gov.uk/register-to-vote/) there is no indication other than a vague "get in touch" about how to opt out of the open register. Again, this should be much clearer and easier; I reiterate my suggestion that this current set of forms and websites is exclusive and anti-democratic.
Yours
William Booth
I am intrigued as to whether they even think this is a problem. It's hard to tell who is at fault - the central government site or the Haringey council electoral services - as they point towards each other in their own literature.
Tags for Forum Posts: bureaucracy, electoral register, forms
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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I know the answer to your first point. Voter registration has changed from registering members of a household to individual registration. In the past we had one letter that ask for details of those living at the address, this time we had a letter each.
I had a quick look at the Haringey wording on the website and then at another London borough at random and the wording was exactly the same so I suppose it's set by whichever government department does this stuff.
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Permalink Reply by William Booth on
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Ah right, yes, the confusion seems to be that this new form is not in fact the electoral register form, despite what it says, but is rather a pre-registration form to say who is eligible to register to vote. Can't help thinking this is going to remove a lot of people from the electoral register one way or another.
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You're probably right William. I imagine a lot of people will have your reaction and think 'I only did this a few months ago' and bin it.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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For a snapshot, take a look here, William.
https://www.gov.uk/yourvotematters?gclid=CMWjl5GE978CFY_MtAodeAUAyAave
The Electoral Commission has been looking into allegations of Electoral Fraud and how the system should change further to balance access with prevention of fraud. In January this year they published their Review and Recommendations which you can download here. Page 31 discusses the Individual Registration issue.
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Thanks Alan. I have few objections to making fraud more difficult, but as a supposed fundament of our political existence the forms and websites seem remarkably hard to understand (and I'd guess this is true for a good many people). Though it may just be me!
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Here is the reply I got from the council, and my reply-to-the-reply. I was umming and aahing about posting it, but since I never got a reply to the remaining points raised, I feel its fair to put it out there. The point about the open register is particularly troubling and I was hoping to get some reassurance there.
Dear Mr Booth
I would like to answer your three queries about the new system of Electoral registration.
Firstly, the timing of introducing the new system. As part of a transition from Household to Individual Registration, Parliament determined the timetable for the process. It felt that the changeover between two processes should be close together, just before and just after the May elections. A high proportion of electors will move home within any 12 month period so I do not see why the timetable is “anti-democratic.”
The forms are designed by the Electoral Commission. Each Borough is permitted to put its own logo and contact details thereon so they go to the right registration district.
“A” stands for absent voter, i.e. absent from a Polling Station and therefore able to use one of the alternative options available, such as Postal or Proxy as you say.
The Open and Full description of the two versions of the register are also new – the term “Edited” has been dropped as part of the changes. If you would like to forward your actual address to us, we can check which version includes you. I cannot do this otherwise. You may not be the only William Booth in Haringey.
In the meantime, I hope that answers some of your points.
My reply, sent 4th August, as yet unanswered, personal details removed:
Dear XXXX,
Many thanks for your reply; it seems that most of the problems (as I see them at least) lie outside the borough with central government but having the borough logo on them probably rubs off badly on Haringey! In fact, under the new system, is there any need for local councils to be involved?Regarding timing, this is clearly out of Haringey's hands, then. My worry is that (since this is only a precursor to the new registration as I understand it) there will have been three registration forms within a few months.Regarding the postal/proxy question, thank you for explaining what the A stands for, but I stand by my point that this should be clearly visible on the form; it's just confusing otherwise (though again, this is the Electoral Commission's issue by the sound of it).And on the matter of the open/full register, is this not just analogous to edited/full in the old system? As such, does everyone have to re-assert which one they are on by emailing you? This seems a very inefficient way of doing things; it does make one suspicious that it is a commercial venture. I am at XXXX by the way (along with XXXX who ought also to be removed from the 'open' register).Thanks for your quick and helpful reply in any case.Best wishesWilliam Booth
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