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Privacy notice for electoral registration and elections

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This privacy notice is published in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 and is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) references: ZA447729 and Z5911699.

The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) is registered with the ICO references: Z8061490 and Z686661X.

Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils are committed to ensuring that information is handled in accordance with the principles set out in data protection legislation and guidance from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

This notice provides general information on the way in which the personal information you provide is managed and processed by the Electoral Registration Officer and the Returning Officer (the ‘data controllers’).

This privacy notice should be read in conjunction with other relevant specific privacy notices that are available in our Babergh and Mid Suffolk Privacy Notices.

The data controller and contact details

The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) and the Returning Officer (RO) are the data controllers for the personal data you provide. The contact details for you to exercise any of your data protection rights or to raise any concerns you may have regarding your personal data are:

Data Protection Officer
Babergh & Mid Suffolk District Councils
Endeavour House
8 Russell Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP1 2BX

Email: dataprotection@baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk

How we collect your information

We get information about potential and actual electors, voters, citizens, candidates, agents, and staff employed for registration, canvass and elections and booking contact details from the following sources:

  • directly from you
  • from central government registration portal
  • from third parties such as residential and/or care home providers, Universities etc

What personal data we process and why

We process the following personal and special categories of personal  data such as :

  • your name, address, date of birth and nationality
  • unique identifiers such as your National Insurance Number
  • your signature for the purposes of verifying your absent vote if you have one in place
  • your previous address or details of your redirected address if provided
  • the other occupants at your property
  • scanned application forms and any documentary evidence provided
  • dates and copies of any letters of correspondence
  • your age category - If you are 16 or 17 years old, or over 76
  • whether you have chosen to opt out of the open version of the register
  • notes about any relevant circumstances that you have told us
  • if provided, your email address and contact telephone number(s)
  • evidence to confirm your identify, such as a copy of your passport, marriage certificate or driving licence
  • bank details for those employed at the canvass
  • car registration details for those employed at canvass
  • previous employment data for those employed at canvass
  • confirmation and proof of eligibility to work in the UK
  • statement regarding tax arrangements

We use your information to enable us to carry out specific functions and statutory services that we are responsible for. These are:

  • to undertake our statutory obligation to ensure that all eligible persons in City of York area and eligible overseas electors, are registered to vote and maintain a complete and accurate register throughout the year
  • to assist residents in registering to vote and ensuring they have any absent vote arrangements in place and that polling station electors are supplied with a voter authority certificate where required
  • to enable all registered electors to participate as voters in elections or referendums
  • to enable eligible persons to stand as candidates in elections in accordance with statutory requirements
  • in order to deliver elections and referendums and fulfil their statutory responsibilities and employ individuals for canvasser duties
  • to conduct an annual canvass of all household to establish all eligible persons who are entitled to be registered
  • to produce poll cards and postal ballot packs
  • the provision of a Voter Authority Certificate (VAC)

We will also collect your comments, feedback, and opinions if you choose to take part in our surveys, consultation etc. You can withdraw your consent to these at any time by contacting elections@baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk 

If you need a Voter Authorisation Certificate (VAC) you are required to provide the Returning Officer with personal data and special categories of personal data such as:

  • name
  • address
  • date of birth
  • national insurance number
  • photo
  • personal contact details

The law makes it compulsory to provide information to an ERO for inclusion in the full register.

With the exception of a Canvass Communication A, a person who has received a canvass communication must provide the information that it required. There is a criminal penalty of up to £1,000 for failing to provide the information to the electoral registration officer.

By law, a person who fails to return an Individual Electoral Registration (IER) form can be fined £80.

We are required by law to provide copies of the Full Register which is published once a year and is updated every month to certain organisation and individuals. They may use it for their own reasons which are different to ours but they still have to look after the data contained in the register in the same way we do. It is a crime for anyone who has a copy of the Full Register to pass information from this register on to others if they do not have a lawful reason to see it.

The organisations and individuals have restriction notices set out in law on what they can and cannot use the Full Register data for. See The Electoral Register.

In accordance with law, the Full Register has to be made available for public inspection and we do this by making it available to inspect at public libraries and by appointment at West Offices. Please contact Electoral Services on email: elections@baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk if you want to make an appointment.

Please note:

  • inspection is done under supervision
  • people who inspect the register can make handwritten notes but cannot take copies or photographs of the register
  • information taken must not be used for direct marketing purposes, in accordance with data protection legislation, unless it has been published in the Open Register. The open version of the register is also available for inspection

Anyone who fails to observe these conditions is committing a criminal offence and will be charged a penalty of up to £5,000.

We are required by law to provide copies of the Marked Register, which details whether you have voted (but not how you have voted) to those who are entitled in law to receive it after an election.

We are required by law to provide copies of the Open Register which is published every month and can be sold to any person, organisation or company who requests it. They may use it for their own reasons that are different to ours, but they must look after your data in the same way that we do.

If you have opted to be included in the Open Register, by law your register information can be shared with anyone who requests it. You can choose whether or not to have your personal details included in the Open register.

However, they will be included unless you ask for them to be removed. Removing your details from the Open Register will not affect your right to vote.

The Open Register does not contain your telephone number and/or email address.

The process of checking citizens' personal identifiers to ensure eligibility for inclusion in the Electoral Register is controlled by the Cabinet Office via the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service (IERDS). During the annual canvass the process of matching register data is controlled by the Cabinet Office. This includes:

Purpose

We collect your personal information for the following purposes:

  • To undertake our statutory obligation to ensure that all eligible persons in Babergh and Mid Suffolk are registered to vote.
  • To enable eligible persons to stand as candidates in elections in accordance with statutory requirements.
  • To enable all registered electors to participate as voters in elections and referendums.

With regard to the above, we will specifically use personal information on the Electoral Register to:

  • conduct an annual canvass of all households to establish all eligible persons who are entitled to be registered
  • produce poll cards and postal ballot packs.

Categories of personal data

Electoral registration

In order to carry out these purposes we collect and obtain your name, address, email address and telephone number. Sometimes we collect other information you may feel is sensitive to you. This might be your nationality, date of birth, national insurance number or the reason why you might require a postal or proxy vote. We may also ask you to provide additional evidence to confirm your identity such as copies of your passport, marriage certificate or driving licence.

There is certain personal data such as nationality that is categorised under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as special category data. This is because it may reveal a person’s racial or ethnic origin.

The Electoral Registration Officer, as data controller, can only process special category data if he has a policy document in place which sets out details of the retention and erasure of special category data.

Candidates standing for election

In order to carry out these purposes we collect and obtain your name, address, email address and telephone number.

Lawful basis for processing your personal data

Any personal data including special category data that we process about individuals is done so in accordance with Article 6 and 9 of the UK GDPR and Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018).

Article 6(1)

  • (a) Consent: the individual has given clear consent for the council to process their personal data for a specific purpose.
  • (c) Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for the council to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).
  • (e) Public task: the processing is necessary for the council to perform a task in the public interest or for our official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.

Article 9(2)

  • (a) Explicit consent
  • (b) Employment, social security and social protection (if authorised by law)
  • (g) Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law)

This is supported by Schedule1, Part 2 (6) of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the following legal framework:

Information sharing and recipients

We may share personal information about you.

We are required by law to provide copies of the full electoral register to certain organisations and individuals (such as the British Library, Office for National Statistics, Jury Central Summoning Bureau, elected representatives and candidates at elections). They may use it for their own reasons which are different to ours but they still have to look after the data contained in the register in the same way that we do.

To verify your identity, the data you provide will be processed by the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service managed by the Cabinet Office. As part of this process your data will be shared with the Department of Work and Pensions and the Cabinet Office suppliers that are data processors for the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service. Find out more at: GOV.UK - Register to vote - Privacy notice.

If you have opted to be included in the open register, by law your register information can be shared with anyone who requests it. They may use it for their own reasons that are different to ours but they must look after your data in the same way that we do.

In accordance with law, the full electoral register has to be made available for public inspection and we do this by making it available to inspect at:

Babergh & Mid Suffolk District Councils, Endeavour House, 8 Russell Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 2BX
Inspection is done under supervision. People who inspect the register can make handwritten notes but cannot take copies or photographs of the register.

The open and full versions of the electoral register do not contain your telephone number and/or email address.

Automated decisions

For Electoral Services, all decisions made regarding candidates standing for election involve human intervention. Limited automated decisions are made in the registration process where registration takes place through the gov.uk services and data provided matches with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

Data retention

Electoral registration

We will retain any documents that contain your personal information (for example HEF and ITR forms) for only as long as it takes for your registration application to be determined following which we securely dispose of the documents.

We retain electronic information about persons on the electoral register for only as long as they remain registered, following which the information will be deleted.

Candidates standing for election

We are required by law (Principal Area Rules 2006) to retain candidate nomination papers for candidates standing in elections for no longer than 12 months after the election, following which the documents are securely destroyed.

Home address forms provided by candidates standing in general elections are retained for a period of 21 days after the return of the legal writ, following which they are securely disposed of. However, if an election petition relating to the election is presented within the 21 calendar days, the home address forms must be kept securely until the conclusion of the petition proceedings (including any appeal from such proceedings). They must then be securely destroyed on the next working day following the conclusion of the proceedings or appeal.

We are required by law to retain candidate election expenses documents for a period of no more than two years from the date on which the expenses are received. At the end of the two year period, the respective candidate can request the return of the expenses documents. Otherwise the expenses documents will be securely disposed of.

Data sharing

We will only share your information where it is appropriate to, with:

  • other council services
  • other local authorities
  • third parties such as our data processors, partner organisations, candidates, political parties and credit reference agencies.
  • government agencies
  • internal and external auditors

In some circumstances, such as under a court order or safeguarding, we are legally obliged to share your information.

We will always satisfy ourselves that we have a lawful basis on which to share the information and document our decision-making.

Additionally, we are required under the Public Records Act 1958 (as amended) to transfer records to local or National Archives (TNA) for permanent preservation. Full consideration will be given to Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation when making decisions about whether such records should be open to the public.

Data processors and/or third parties

When we have third parties providing parts or all of our services, systems, software, platforms, applications (apps) etc for us, we have contracts or agreements in place with them. These include

  • the electoral management software (EMS) supplier, Democracy Counts - Elector8, and for the purposes of annual canvass, Register Securely Democracy Counts' online household response service.
  • Civica Election Services – to produce election and registration information, but only on our instructions, for example poll cards, postal packs and forms 
  • Microsoft Teams, to contact you, to gather information from you, or if we are recording or transcribing our discussion or meeting with you, we will let you know. For further information refer to our Babergh and Mid Suffolk 'How we use your information' webpages.
  • Microsoft Forms for surveys or consultation etc. You can find out how they use information in the Microsoft Privacy Notice

Transfers of personal data

We don’t routinely transfer personal data outside of the UK but when this is necessary we ensure that we have appropriate safeguards in place and that is done in accordance with the UK data protection and privacy legislation.

How we protect your information

We're committed to keeping your information safe and secure. There are several ways we do this, such as:

  • IT security safeguards such as firewalls, encryption, and anti-virus software
  • on-site security safeguards to protect physical files and electronic equipment
  • training for all staff and elected councillors
  • policies and procedures

How to exercise your rights

To find out about your rights under data protection law, you can go to the Information Commissioner's Office website.

If you have any questions about this privacy notice, want to exercise your rights, or if you have a complaint about how your information has been used, please contact us on email: dataprotection@baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk or by post to:

Data Protection Officer
Babergh & Mid Suffolk District Councils
Endeavour House
8 Russell Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP1 2BX

How to raise a concern

If you wish to raise a concern about the council’s handling of your personal information, please contact our Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@baberghmidsuffolk.gov.uk

Whether you are exercising your rights or raising a concern, you will normally need to include documents that prove your identity as well as a clear and precise description of your request or concern.

We will process requests in accordance with the legislative framework and statutory timescales and inform you should an extension of time be necessary.

Complaints

If you are not satisfied with the way we have answered a request from you or handled your personal information, you have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at: Information Commissioners Officer (ICO)

This right is not dependent on you raising a complaint with us first but we would encourage you to contact our DPO so we can consider your concerns as quickly as possible

Updates

We may update or revise this privacy notice at any time but the most up to date version will always be provided on this webpage.