Electoral Registration Annual Canvass 2022

By law, we have to carry out an annual ‘canvass’ of electors every year, to ensure the electoral register is as complete and accurate as possible. The canvass runs from July to November and the revised electoral register, incorporating the changes made during the canvass, will be published on December 1, 2022. You need to be on the electoral register to vote in elections. Being registered can also improve your credit rating. 

Responding to the Annual Canvass

As part of the annual canvass, we will contact every property in Copeland from mid-July onwards. This will be by email or by post depending on what information we hold. The email or letter will explain what action, if any, you must take.  If you are required to respond, you will have three weeks to do so before a reminder is issued. Households who do not respond to a reminder may be visited by one of our canvassers.   

Please respond online wherever possible. The website you will be asked to visit is www.elecreg.co.uk/copeland. You will need security codes to respond and these will be included in the email or letter we send you. Further information on the different contacts methods is below.

Have you received an email from us?

If you receive an email from us, it will come from the following email address: electoral.services.copeland.borough.council@notifications.service.gov.uk. Please follow the link in the email to check the information that we currently hold for your address on the electoral register, and amend this as necessary -  for example, by deleting anyone who is no longer lives there or adding the name of anyone who lives there but is not currently registered.  
   
If you receive an email regarding an address where you no longer live, you can use www.elecreg.co.uk/copeland to inform us who has moved out.  

We will send an email in one of two instances:

1. We believe there has been no change to residents and we have an email address for at least one currently registered elector.
2. We could not confirm all of the registered electors during our data matching process, and we hold an email address for at least one currently registered elector.

We require a response to these emails, and the email will tell you how to respond. If we do not receive a response, we will follow this up with either a reminder email or a reminder email followed by a letter.

Have you received a canvass form in the post?

If we do not receive a response to our email, or if we do not hold an email address for any member of the household, we must send a canvass form to the property by post.  

The canvass form will explain what action, if any, you must take. If you are required to respond, please do so as soon as possible by visiting www.elecreg.co.uk/copeland and using the security codes included in the form to confirm the information and/or make any changes.

If there are no changes to make, you can also respond by phone or text using the contact numbers on the form or, if you prefer, you can post the form to Electoral Services, Copeland Borough Council, Market Hall, Market Place, Whitehaven, CA28 7SJ.

If a response is required and not received, we will follow this up with either a further letter or a visit from a canvasser.

In-person visit to complete the canvass

If you are required to respond to the annual canvass and do not do so, we will make further attempts to contact you by email or post. From October 2022, our team of canvassers will be visiting properties that have not responded, in order to obtain the necessary information. Canvassers will carry photographic ID badges issued by Copeland Borough Council.

New electors

Please note that adding a person’s name to a canvass form or online response will not automatically add them to the electoral register. The person will also need to complete their registration by going online to www.gov.uk/register-to-vote or by completing the application form that we will send them if they do not register online.

It is a legal requirement to apply to register to vote when invited by the Electoral Registration Officer to do so. 

If you have any questions regarding registering to vote, please email electoral@copeland.gov.uk or call 01946 598300.

Key dates for the Annual Canvass

• July 18 -  Annual canvass begins
• July 18 -  Emails sent to some properties
• July 27 -  Letters sent to properties that require a response
• August 8 - Letters following up emails sent
• September 14 -  Follow-up letters to properties that require a response
• October 3 – November 21 - Personal canvass of non-responding properties
• December 1 - Publication of revised register of electors

What could happen if you don't respond?

• You will receive reminders via email, paper form, telephone or a door knock up until November 25, 2022.
• If you do not respond, we will either call you, if we have your telephone number, or ask a canvasser to visit your property to collect the information.
• If you do not provide the requested information at all, you could be fined up to £1,000.
• If you fail to respond you could lose your right to vote.
• Your credit rating could be affected by not being on the Electoral Register.