Voting Registration Figures In Wrexham Released (Updated)

This morning (Wednesday 22nd) Wrexham Council have clarified the data released alongside the voting registration stats to say “The population figures quoted in yesterday’s email for both Parliamentary seats include children who are under 18 and cannot vote as well as people who are not commonwealth citizens but are residents in the areas of both seats.”

Wrexham Council have requested: “There is a fear that the more people read this article the more will attempt to re-register and cause severe disruption with our electoral services.

“Could you please remove or amend the article to reflect that the population figures also included under 18’s and non-commonwealth citizens as both categories will be unable to vote in the upcoming election.”

Thus this insert, and the changed headline. This was also spotted and debated prior to the contact from the Council on the Wrexham.com Forums here.

Original article below…

Over 20,000 Wrexham residents who are eligible to vote are not registered – with a further 17,766 not registered in Clwyd South.

Midnight last night was the cut off point for voting registration – with thousands of people across the country taking advantage of the last minute opportunity and registering to vote for the upcoming General Election on May 7th.

Under IER anyone making a new application for registration must provide personal identifiers, including National Insurance number and date of birth, for the purpose of establishing whether they are the person named in the application. The information provided is used to verify against DWP records. While the majority of applicants are likely to have their identity verified, there will be some applicants who cannot be matched or who cannot supply the required personal identifiers. Applicants who cannot be matched or cannot supply some or all of the required personal identifiers must be asked to provide documentary evidence to prove their identity.

A spokesperson for Wrexham Council confirmed that they received hundreds of applications to register to vote before the deadline, along with receiving some duplicate applications from people who were also ready to vote.

However recent figures released show that in the Wrexham and Clwyd South ward there are over 40,000 eligible voters who have not registered. The most recent figures for numbers of registered individuals for the Wrexham and Clywd South Parliamentary seats, taken from last week are as follows:-

Registration figures – Wrexham Constituency – 50, 999
Clwyd South Constituency – 55,003 (this includes figure Denbighshire’s part of the Clwyd South constituency)

The population figures for both seats (based on information from June 2013) show that Wrexham has a population of 71,194 and Clwyd South 72,769 (June 2013)

Although the deadline to register to vote is midnight on 20 April, applicants who submitted an application in time, but didn’t match, have until 28 April to provide the Electoral Registration Officer with the required evidence, under the exceptions process. Electoral Registration Officers have until 28 April to determine those applications. Only electors whose applications have been determined by 28th April will be eligible to vote in the election on 7 May.