Under GDPR, individuals have the right to be informed about the collection and use of their personal data. This privacy notice relates to Electoral Services
Electoral Services are responsible for producing the electoral register. This is a list of all people who are eligible to vote in elections in the district of Fenland. The law requires us to share this date with various agencies and parties.
Electoral Services are also responsible for managing elections in the district. This involves using the data collected to enable people to vote, and to enable parties and candidates to participate.
Personal data is collected from residents to enable us to carry out these functions, and all functions are performed in the public interest.
The Council appoints an Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) and a Returning Officer (RO), who have legal powers to collect this data.
The following is a list of all primary and secondary legislation relevant to the collection, processing and retention of personal data by Electoral Services:
We are legally required to collect information so that we can determine if you are eligible to vote, and to record you as a legitimate voter.
We keep records about potential and actual electors, voters, citizens, candidates and their agents, staff employed at an election and the people we need to pay. These may be written down (manual records) or kept on a computer (electronic records).
These records may include:
To verify your identity when you register, the data you provide will be processed by the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service managed by the Cabinet Office. As part of this process your data will be shared with the Department of Work and Pensions and the Cabinet Office suppliers that are data processors for the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service. You can find out more information at Register to Vote.
Data is also collected on electoral registration and on election staff, so that we can employ staff to conduct electoral duties. Political parties and candidates are required to provide information when they wish to stand for election. Again, electoral law determines what data we have to request and how long we retain it.
Under The Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001, Section 35, we are able to inspect other local authority records. We inspect Council Tax records to determine whether people should still remain registered at an address and identify potential new electors, and we also collect e-mail addresses and telephone numbers for electors from the Council Tax database.
The information you provide is held in electoral registers which are managed by Electoral Registration Officers who, using the information received, keep two registers - the full electoral register and the open (edited) register.
The full register is published once a year, and updated every month (except in October and November). This can only be supplied to the following people and organisations:
We also have to disclose your information with our software providers and contracted printers for the purposes of carrying out our duties in relation to electoral registration and elections.
It is a crime for anyone who has a copy of the full register to pass information from this register on to others, if they do not have a lawful reason for doing so.
The full register lists the names and addresses of everyone who is registered to vote in public elections. The register is used for electoral purposes and also for other limited purposes specified in law, such as detecting crime, calling people for jury service and checking credit applications. Anyone can inspect the full register under supervision. Extracts can be taken from the register, but only as handwritten notes. In accordance with data protection legislation, information must not be used for direct marketing purposes unless it has been published in the open version of the register. Anyone who fails to observe these conditions is committing a criminal offence, and may be charged a penalty of up to £5,000.
The open register contains the same information as the full register, but is not used for elections or referendums. It is possible to opt out of appearing on the open register. It is updated and published every month, and can be sold to any person, organisation or company who requests this, for a wide range of purposes. It is used by businesses and charities for checking names and address details. Users of the register include direct marketing and online directory firms.
You can choose whether or not to have your personal details (name and address) included in the open version of the register. It is important to note that they are included by default unless you ask for them to be removed. Removing your details from the open register will not affect your right to vote.
The Electoral Registration Officer and Returning Officer are obliged to process your personal data in relation to preparing for and conducting elections. Your details are kept and updated in accordance with legal obligations and in line with statutory retention periods.
You are entitled to request a copy of any information that we hold about you. Any such requests must be made in writing. If the information we hold about you is inaccurate, you have the right to have this corrected. You also have the right to request that incomplete data is updated.
You have the right to request the deletion of your personal data in certain circumstances (the 'right to be forgotten'). You also have the right to request that we stop or restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances. Where possible, we seek to comply with your request, but we may be required to hold or process information to comply with a legal requirement.
If you are dissatisfied with how the Electoral Registration Officer or Returning Officer have used your personal information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at casework@ico.org.uk
The Electoral Registration Officer and Returning Officer are required to keep a record of your personal data in order to comply with the Representation of People Act 1983, the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013, the Representation of the People Regulations 2001 and the Electoral Registration (Disclosure of Electoral Registers) Regulations 2013.
The data controller for the electoral register, the Electoral Registration Officer and the Returning Officer, can be contacted by:
The Council's Data Protection Officer can be contacted at the same address and telephone above and by emailing foi@fenland.gov.uk.
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