Make every effort to ensure you’re elegible to vote.
That’s the message being issued from the government’s Electoral Registration Unit, which is working to safeguard residents’ right to vote and confirm that information held on the electoral register is correct.
Letters are in the process of being sent to people who have been identified as no longer resident at the address where they are currently registered, warning that they face being removed from the register.
A statement released yesterday evening (Thursday) said: ‘The letters are going to 1,300 people whose names have been crossed-off from the pre-populated forms issued in the annual canvass in January, or whose forms have been returned marked “Gone Away” or where new electors have moved in to properties at which other people are registered.
‘Reminder letters were issued to all properties which had not responded by the original deadline of February 1, 2016.’
It added: ‘This week’s round of letters is being sent to ensure that people who may have been incorrectly identified as moved or no longer at an address have the opportunity to correct the information and avoid being deleted from the electoral register.’
If no response is received by next Friday (March 18) then the name will be removed from the register, under the provisions of the Registration of Electors Act 2006, and that person cannot stand or vote in local authority elections on April 28 or the House of Keys election on September 22.
Anyone who receives notice this week or has queries should get in touch as soon as possible with the Electoral Registration Unit on +44 1624 685754 or by email to elections@gov.im so they can be registered at the correct address.