Electoral Registration Officer and Returning Officer - GDPR

What is the information used for

The Electoral Register:

• Your records are used to determine your eligibility to be registered to vote. If eligible, your details will be added to the Electoral Register and used for the statutory purposes.
• The Electoral Register can be used for voting, prevention of crime and fraud, jury service selection and credit checks.
• The Electoral Register is a public document which can be viewed by appointment only under strict control. If you do not provide us with accurate information then you will not be able to vote.
• You must register to vote if you’re asked to do so and you meet the conditions for registering. If you’re asked to register and do not, you could be fined.

Working on Elections:

• If you are staff who have worked on an election, the RO will use your records to pay you for the job you did. Your records are only accessed by the core Electoral Services Team and our payroll department.

How long is the information kept for

In order to provide you with this service, we rely on our legal obligation. The Electoral Registration Officer and Returning Officer are obliged to process your personal data in relation to maintaining the Electoral Register and preparing for and conducting Elections. Your details will be kept and updated in accordance with our legal obligations and in line with statutory retention periods.

Occasions when your information needs to be disclosed (shared) include:

• to contracted printers to print your Poll cards, Postal Ballot Packs & other electoral material
• to registered political parties, elected representatives, candidates, agents and other permitted participants who are able to use it for electoral purposes only
• credit reference agencies, the British Library, UK Statistics Authority, the Electoral Commission and other statutory recipients of the Electoral Register
• details of whether you have voted (but not how you have voted) to those who are entitled in law to receive it after an election
• where the health and safety of others is at risk
• when the law requires us to pass on information under special circumstances
• crime prevention or the detection of fraud as part of the National Fraud Initiative

Anyone who receives information from us has a legal duty to keep it confidential

We are required by law to report certain information to appropriate authorities, for example:

• where a formal court order has been issued • To law enforcement agencies for the prevention or detection of a crime
• to the Jury Central Summoning Bureau indicating those persons who are aged 76 or over and are no longer eligible for jury service. Electoral Services has a legal duty to keep and process information about you in accordance with the law.

Partner organisations

The process of checking electors’ personal identifiers to ensure eligibility for inclusion in the Electoral Register, is controlled by the Government Digital Service.

This includes:

• The Department for Work and Pensions who use data provided to verify the identity of new applicants.
• The Government Digital Service will inform the relevant local authority if an applicant has moved out of their area Information will be processed within the EEA and will not be shared with overseas recipients.

If your details are in the Open version of the Electoral Register, your name and address can be sold to third parties who may use it for any purpose. You can opt out of this version at any time and are given the opportunity annually as part of the Canvass of all households.

Can I see my records

The Data Protection Act 2018 allows you to find out what information is held about you, on paper and computer records. This is known as ‘right of subject access’ and applies to your Electoral Services records along with all other personal records.

If you wish to see a copy of your records you should contact the Data Protection Officer. You are entitled to receive a copy of your records free of charge, within a month.

In certain circumstances access to your records may be limited, for example, if the records you have asked for contain information relating to another person or if the information requested is not legally available.

Do I have Other Rights

The Data Protection Act 2018 allows you other rights; for example if there is an error in your records you have the right to make sure it is rectified or erased.

You have the right to be told if we have made a mistake whilst processing your data and we will self report breaches to the Commissioner.

You have the right to opt out of the Open Version of the Register, at any time, and we must remove you from this version and tell the statutory recipients in the next update.

Further information

If you would like to know more about how we use your information, or if for any reason you do not wish to have your information used in any of the ways described in this leaflet, please tell us. Contact the Data Protection Officer:

Electoral Registration Officer
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council
Civic Offices
London Road
RG21 4AH

Tel: 01256 845467

Email: electoral.services@basingstoke.gov.uk

You can also get more information on Information Commissioner's Office website