What is the Electoral Register?

The Electoral Register is a list of everyone who is registered to vote. You can only vote at elections if your name is on the Electoral Register. You are not automatically registered to vote just because you pay Council Tax. You must complete a separate registration form.

The register is updated monthly (January to September) by the Rolling Registration process and then once a year (from mid August to late November) a canvass of the whole Borough takes place and a new complete register is then published on 1 December each year.

Are you registered?

To confirm that your name is on the current register, contact Electoral Services who will be able to check for you or you can inspect the register yourself at the Town Hall (see below).

Register - Full and Edited Versions

There are two versions of the Register. Your details will appear on the full version of the Register, but you can choose whether or not your details appear on the edited version. The full Register is used for elections, preventing and detecting crime, and checking applications for credit. The edited Register is available for general sale and can be used for commercial activities such as marketing.

Who can register to vote?

• Anyone aged 16 or over (but you cannot vote until your 18th birthday)
• British or Commonwealth citizens - updated 10/3/2010 (view list of Countries pdf - 15.04kb)
• Citizens of the Irish Republic
• Citizens of other European Union (EU) countries (view list of Countries - pdf - 15.04kb)
• Students - If you are a student living away from home you can register to vote at your home address and at where you live at University or college but you only vote once at any single election
• Homeless people who were unable to register because they had no fixed address are now able to make a declaration of local connection - giving an address of, or nearest to, a place where they spend a substantial amount of their time, for example a local day centre
• Patients in mental hospitals (other than those who are held there because of criminal behaviour) are able to register to vote without the need to pass the additional test of making a patient's declaration
• Unconvicted or remand prisoners are able to register in the establishment where they are held if they are likely to be spending a long period remanded in custody. Convicted prisoners are still unable to vote.

Inspection of the Register

The Edited Register is the copy of the register that contains only the names of those voters that have not opted out of having their names passed on for non-electoral purposes. It can be inspected at the Town Hall during normal office hours Monday to Friday.

The Full version of the current register is available for public inspection. However, the Representation of the People Regulations 2006 state that this inspection must take place under supervision.

Anyone wishing to inspect the Full version of the register may find that they can do so by prior appointment only. Please contact Electoral Services on 01372 732152 for further information.

Please note that subject to staff availability, inspection time may be limited to 20 minutes per appointment. Please also give 24 hours' notice of any intention to inspect.

Please note that it is only possible to inspect the current version of the Full register. Anyone wishing to inspect historic versions of the register for research purposes are advised that copies are held at the Surrey History Centre.

Although you now have the option of withholding your name from the edited Register, you may find that your name is still included on mail marketing lists and you continue to receive unsolicited mail. If you don't want to receive advertising mailings you should write to: Mailing Preference Service, FREEPOST 29 LON20771, London W1E OZT or visit their website www.mpsonline.org.uk

Further Information

Telephone: 01372 732152
email: electoralservices@epsom-ewell.gov.uk

Related Pages

Can you vote?
Postal and Proxy Voting
Standing for Elections 
Where to vote
Overseas Electors 
Electoral Boundaries 
Borough Council Elections 
County Council Elections 
Parliamentary Elections
European Parliamentary Elections