Deadline for voter registration approaches

Wednesday, 9 March 2005 12:00 AM

Voters need to register now or risk being unable to vote in the upcoming general election.

If pundits are right and the general election is called for May 5, would-be-voters have only until March 11 to register their vote under electoral registration laws.

In Northern Ireland the cut off date is March 10.

In England, Wales and Scotland if you, or the head of your household, filled in the registration form delivered last autumn you should be on the voting register. UK citizens living abroad, or in Northern Ireland, are required to register individually.

If you have moved home it is particularly important that you check whether you are on the register - just because you are paying council tax does not mean you are registered to vote.

The Electoral Commission has been running a multi-media campaign since February to urge the public, in particular young people, to register their vote.

Its TV campaign is based around the message: "If you don't do politics, there's not much you do do". It attempts to illustrate how every day issues, such as the price of goods in stores to the state of the roads, are related to political decisions.

It has set up a free helpline number for anyone unsure about any element of voter registration - 0800 3 280 280 - and registration forms can be downloaded from its website.

Further details about voter registration can be found as part of politics.co.uk's election explained section.

In December 2004 there were 44,180, 243 people registered to vote in Parliamentary elections, according to the Office of National Statistics.

However, a spokesperson for the Electoral Commission told politics.co.uk that it is not statistically possible to determine how many people are actually eligible to vote because there is no way to determine how many people are disqualified from voting.

In addition, the ONS does not have a statistical record of the total number of adult, British nationals. The UK though has a population of over 59 million.

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