How to register to vote

The electoral register and the open register

There are two types of electoral registers.

The electoral register lists the names and addresses of everyone who's registered to vote. It's used for electoral purposes, such as making sure only eligible people can vote. 

It can also be used for other legal purposes, such as detecting crime (e.g. fraud), calling people for jury service and checking credit applications.

The open register uses parts of the electoral register, but isn't used for elections. Any person, company or organisation can buy access to this information and use it for mail marketing purposes.

Your name and address are included in the open register unless you ask to remove them.

Removing your name from the open register

You can remove your information from the open register. This doesn't affect your right to vote.

To opt out, you can:

• contact Electoral Services to say that you want to be removed from the open register, giving your full name and address
• use the GOV.UK register to vote service (even if you've already registered) and choose to opt out

You can read more about the difference between the open register and the electoral register on ICO.org.uk.