The 2018 canvass: checklist for Electoral Registration Officers

1.1This document is designed to support your preparations for the canvass by highlighting the key points Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and their staff will need to ensure they have addressed in confirming their plans for the canvass. It isn’t designed as a comprehensive guide to planning for the canvass but has been provided as a tool to support effective planning, and it should be read in conjunction with our guidance and supporting resources for Electoral Registration Officers.Following the canvass pilots that have taken place in 2016 and 2017 due to theElectoral Registration Pilot Scheme (England and Wales) Order 2017, the Electoral Registration Pilot Scheme (Scotland) Order 2017, and the Electoral Registration Pilot Scheme (England) (Amendment) Order 2017 which allowed differences in approach to the canvass to be permitted in specified areas, there are no pilots taking place in 2018. EROs who have been part of these pilots will therefore need to conduct a full canvass for 2018 in line with all legislation referenced in this guidance.

The 2018 canvass

1.2Youmust issue a Household Enquiry Form (HEF) to all properties in your registration areaand arelegally required to take specified steps to follow up any non-responses to HEFs, including issuing two reminders and making a personal visit where necessary.

1.3As is the case throughout the year, any potential new electors you identify (such as where a name has been added to a HEF) will need to be sent an Invitation to Register (ITR) and you must take the specified steps – issuing two reminders and making a personal visit where necessary– tofollow up any non-responses to ITRs.

1.4You must publish your revised register by 1 December 2018.[1] However, it is important to remember that the 1 December register is only a snapshot of how the register stands at that date, and you do not need to have completed all your canvass activity – including following up with non-responders – by that time. Your work in relation to maintaining an accurate and complete register continues throughout the year.

1.51 December 2018 is a Saturday. Unless there has been an election during the canvass, EROs in England, Scotland and Wales should where practicable publish their revised register on Saturday 1 December.

1.6Publication of the register on Saturday 1 December 2018 maximises the length of time available for applications to register to be received and determined in time to be included on the revised register. The determination date will be Friday 30 November (29 November in Scotland) and the last date for the receipt of normal applications will be Thursday 22 November (21 November in Scotland).

1.7As Saturday is normally not a working day, there may be practicalities associated with you publishing the register on a Saturday. You will need to factor into your planning the possible resource requirements related to working on a Saturday, such as opening of office buildings, staffing arrangements and the availability of IT support if required.

1.8If, for whatever reason, you decide to publish in November you will need to consider the impact on the canvass of deadlines for receipt of applications in time for them to be included on the revised register. Publication of the revised register in November means that an individual who makes a successful registration application after 23 October, would not be added to the register until the January 2019 notice of alteration, except in the case of an election.

Changes to forms and legislation

Liaise with your printer to ensure you are able to produce the revised versions of the prescribed blank and pre-printed HEFs and of the voter registration forms. We have been working on updating our suite of voter registration forms to include GDPR messaging. Once they have been approved by the Minister, we will finalise the forms and make them available on a rolling basis. We will update you on their availability in future Bulletins.

Familiarise yourself with, and consider the implications of the broadening of the provisions for anonymous registration. These include extending the eligible court documents, and broadening the list of qualifying officers to attest an application to include: any registered medical practitioner; any registered nurse or midwife; and, any person who manages a refuge. In addition, an attestation from the police is now from a police officer of or above the rank of inspector, rather than superintendent. Further information is contained in Chapter 7 of Part 4: ‘Maintaining the register throughout the year’.

Revised versions of the prescribed blank and pre-printed HEFs andthe voter registration forms are available on our website, along with guidance on how to use them.

Familiarise yourself with, and consider the implications of changes to data protection legislation (which take effect from 25 May 2018), ensuring data protection is integral to all you do and that you are complying with your responsibilities under data protection legislation. In particular, ensuring that you:

  • are registered with the ICO as a data controller
  • have appropriate privacy notices in place
  • are retaining documents in accordance with your document retention policy
  • ensure that data protection is integral to any contracts you have where personal data is processed
  • have a policy document in place to process special categories of personal data
  • maintain records and plans to demonstrate that you are processing personal datalawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner
  • in your plans and risk registerhighlight the safeguards you have in place to avoid a personal data breach.

Our resourceon the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Bill provides further information, and a summary checklist of actions, to support you in meeting your obligations under data protection legislation.

Consider the impact on your processes of changes to legislation[2] that mean that from 1 July 2018, you can delete an elector who has died, without needing a second source of evidence, after receiving information:

  • as a result of the canvass (for example, a returned HEF with an elector marked as deceased)
  • from a close relative (spouse, civil partner, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, child or grandchild of the elector). This can be provided in person, by telephone or in writing but must include:
  • the full name and address of the elector who has died;
  • the full name and address of the person providing the information;
  • their relationship to the deceased; and,
  • a statement that the person providing the information is aware of the penalty for providing false information

Where information is provided in person or by telephone, you must record the information in writing or in data form

  • from a care home manager of a registered care home. This can be provided in person, by telephone or in writing but must include:
  • the full name and address of the elector who has died;
  • the full name and address of the person providing the information; and,
  • a statement that the person providing the information is aware of the penalty for providing false information.

Where information is provided in person or by telephone, you must record the information in writing or in data form

  • your own council’s records (and, if you are an ERO for a district council in a two-tier authority, those of the relevant county council)
  • a person or organisation providing services to your council (including, if you are an ERO for a district council in a two-tier authority, the relevant county council).

We have produced a summary sheet on deletions that is available for download from our website. Detailed guidance on deletions is included in Part 4: Maintaining the register throughout the year.

Reviewing and updating your public engagement strategy and registration plan

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Detailed guidance on reviewing and updating your public engagement strategy and registration plan is contained in Part 1: Planning for the delivery of electoral registration activity.

Remind yourself of what has and hasn’t worked well. It remains vital to ensure that your plans target those who are not currently registered in order to maximise registration.You should look not only at your existing partnerships but also consider identifying any new partners both inside and outside your appointing local authority that could assist you in targeting potential new electors.

Have you thought about… tactics to target under-registered groups
Our example tactics sheets for reaching target audiences contain ideas for targeting and communicating with typically under-registered groups, such as young people, BME groups and private renters.
Further information and practice examples of how some EROs are encouraging students to register, see our sharing good practice resource ‘Reaching students’.

Ensure your plans reflect how you will engage with residents during the canvass through direct contact and working with both internal and external partners, with clear messaging to encourage a response.

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You can draw on our resources and templates for your communications. These have been designed with impact and accessibility in mind. All the templates are available on our website.

The Cabinet Office has also made available a range of democratic engagement resources for different groups of people and settings. They have been developed in collaboration with a number of national organisations.

For information and practice examples of how some EROs are targeting and communicating with potential electors, see our sharing good practice resource ‘Communications’.

Ensure that you maintain records of local records that you inspect, and have data sharing agreements in place with external organisations where appropriate. This will help you demonstrate that you comply with data protection legislation and are processing personal data lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.

Ensure your plans take account of the possibility of an election taking place during the canvass and address what action you would take in that situation.

Resources

Ensure you have sufficient funding in place.

Where relevant, check that Cabinet Office grant funding has been allocated to the electoral registration budget.

Ensure you have sufficient staff available to respond to enquiries from electors and to process returned forms.

Check you have any necessary support required from across your organisation (e.g. frontline/call centre staff, ICT).

Review numbers of staff usedfor the 2017 canvass to follow up non-responses to HEFs and ITRs and assess whether any changes to the staffing allocation is necessary for this year’s canvass.

Have a staff training schedule in place, to include data protection considerations, for the different types of staff involved in the canvass.

Based on the 2017 canvass, assess whether your numbers of canvassers are adequate and determine when and how they will be deployed.

Decide how you will pay canvassers.

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Further information on planning for personal canvassing, including on deploying canvassers,can be found in our ‘List of questions to inform canvass planning’.

Have you thought about… providing canvassers with tablets
Advantages include capturing HEF responses electronically and allowing registration applications to be made directly through without the need for an ITR, resulting in a reduction in processing time compared to dealing with paper forms.For further information on how EROs are successfully using tablets, see the good practice example: ‘Use of tablets by canvassers’. This resource includes a link to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets case study: ‘Tower Hamlets: Using tablets at the canvass’.
For information on and examples of methods adopted by some EROs to ensure a full and effective canvass of properties, see our resource ‘Effective personal canvassing’.

If you have a new initiative to issue canvassers with tablets, ensure you have undertaken a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) first. Further information on DPIAs is contained in our resource on data protection legislation.

Our resourceon the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Bill provides further information on Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) including the requirements for undertaking one and a template DPIA.

Prepare your register for the canvass

Ensure you have access to all available records and data sources. Checking records will assist you with identifying potential new electors and could provide you with one of the two sources of evidence which are required before you can determining that an elector is no longer entitled to be registered. Such checks will help you to ensure that you are conducting the canvass on the most up-to-date information available.

Check your address database remains up-to-date. Each address should have a unique property reference number (UPRN).

For information and practice examples of how some EROs are utilising existing data sources to help ensure that registers are as accurate and complete as possible, see our sharing good practice resource ‘Effective use of available data’.

Review the canvass areas, or ‘rounds’, used in 2017 to ensure that they are the optimum size in each case.

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We have produced a summary sheet on deletions that is available for download from our website. Detailed guidance on deletions is included in Part 4: Maintaining the register throughout the year.

Printing and IT requirements

Ensure that data protection is integral in any tender exercise, and that where you are using a processor(i.e. a contractor) to process personal data on your behalf, you have a written agreement in accordance with data protection legislation.

Review the supplierarrangements you have in place and consider what, if anything, may need to be revised in preparation for the canvass.

If necessary, liaise with your procurement team to ensure the approach to procurement complies with legislation.

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We have produced guidance on managing contractors and suppliers, which provides further information on procurement processes and managing relationships with suppliers.

Our resource on the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Bill provides guidance on appointing a processor to process personal data, and the requirement for a written agreement, including what that agreement should contain.

Ensure you have arrangements in place for any automated response mechanisms you will offer for the HEF (for example, telephone and internet).

Check your scanners and other hardware are in good working order.

Check your storage requirements are sufficient, both for printed forms and scanned forms.

Ensure you are retaining personal data for no longer than is necessary and in accordance with your document retention policy and data protection legislation.

Based on your experience at the 2017 canvass, consider how many pre-printed and blank HEFsand reminderswill be required. Similarly, consider how many ITRs and reminders will be required.

Discuss your requirements with your printer. Agree a timetable for when data will be sent and the forms produced for each stage.

Delivery of HEFs and ITRs

Determine how HEFs and ITRs will be delivered. If, for example, you decide to use Royal Mail oranother postal service provider, engage with them throughout the process.If you are givinginvitations to register by electronic means, including by email, you will need to liaise with your software supplier to ensure that you can collate and use email addresses in order to utilise this option effectively.

Decide what arrangements you will put in place for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs), large educational establishments and care homes.

Follow-up processes during the canvass

Check you have sufficient staff to carry out house-to-house enquiries and personal visits as required.

Consider how you can make the most effective use of canvassers.

Ensure that personal data collected by canvassers is kept secure.

Consider how you will process HEF responses (i.e. no changes; names of existing registered electors crossed off; additions; changes to existing electors’ details; requests for changes to absent vote and open register choices; and, in England and Wales,changes to the ‘aged 76 or over’ marker).

Integrity

Ensure you have processes in place to identify any patterns of activity that might indicate potential integrity problems and that your registration plan includes what steps are to be taken to deal with any such problems. For example, ensure you can identify unusually high numbers of registration applications in respect of a single property, several forms all completed in the same handwriting, etc.

Maintain accuracy and completeness of the register

Identify what actions you will undertake to ensure the quality of the register is maintained throughout the year, includingby identifying and targeting any unregistered residents, keeping your register under review by processing any amendments to an elector’s registration and taking steps to remove electors who are no longer eligible.

Ensure application forms and application channels are well signposted so that potential electors know how to register.

Consider whether you will carry out household notification letter activity in the lead-up to the next scheduled elections and make any necessary arrangements.

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Guidance on maintaining the accuracy and completeness of the register throughout the year is contained in Part 4: Maintaining the register throughout the year.

Have you thought about… sending household notification cards
To encourage potential electors to register, Swale Borough Council have successfully used a colour-coded Household Notification Card. This was similar to the household notification letter, but in a postcard-style, with electors who had not yet responded to an ITR highlighted in red text. For further information, see the case study: ‘Swale: Household notification cards’. For further information and practice examples of how some EROs are utilising their registration stationary and materials to encourages responses, see our sharing good practice resource ‘Encouraging a response’.

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