Question

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many and what proportion of people who were registered for a postal vote under the household electoral register did not have their postal vote transferred during the confirmation run of both the Department of Work and Pensions and the local authority data matching pilots; and what steps the Electoral Commission is taking to ensure that people retain their postal vote in the transition to individual electoral registration.

In England and Wales, 435,025 existing electors with a postal vote have not been confirmed. This amounts to 7% of postal voters in England and Wales. The Commission will report on the results of the confirmation process in Scotland, including the number of postal voters who have not been confirmed, by the end of November 2014.

Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) have already written to all postal voters who have not been confirmed to invite them to register individually. EROs are also required by law to write to any such electors who have not responded by the time of the publication of the revised registers by 1 December 2014 and so have lost their absent vote entitlement.

The Commission’s guidance to EROs highlights postal voters who have not been confirmed as one of the key groups of electors they should have arrangements in place to target.

The Commission will continue to monitor the transition to Individual Electoral Registration and will next report on progress in England and Wales in February 2015. This report will include information on the number of postal voters included on the revised registers. It will also indicate any areas where action needs to be taken by EROs to help to ensure electors can vote using their preferred method of voting at the May 2015 elections. A similar report on progress in Scotland will be published in April 2015.