Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a pilot scheme allowing election-day voter registration in polling stations.

The Government has no plans to introduce election day registration. To work effectively and securely, it would require all polling stations in a constituency to be electronically linked and the register updated in real time to prevent anyone registering and voting in one
polling station and moving quickly to another to do the same. This would present considerable technical challenges and carry significant cost.

Such a change would introduce uncertainties as to the register to be used for the election and undermine confidence in the process if candidates were unable to challenge any unusual trends in registration prior to Polling Day.

Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) are legally responsible for determining who is eligible to vote in polls in their local areas. Coming to a determination can take time and cannot be done instantaneously.