Electoral register verification

[pixie_jem]

Hello all,

In the last week we had a person from Southwark Council knock on the door and ask us all to show our passports to verify we are who we say we are. She was pretty rude and aggressive and insinuated we had been purposely avoiding her. She had a southwark badge and the paperwork with our names on for our house but I just wanted to check if anyone has been asked to show passports on the doorstep? Seemed quite odd. Also we have always voted so I'm not sure why we're not on the register anyway. Any clues would be really appreciated.

Many thanks

Jem

[ianr]

"Households who have not yet responded to the Household Enquiry Form sent in July 2018 by the 31 August 2018 may get a visit from an appointed Southwark council personal canvasser who will help you to complete the form and answer any questions you may have." https://www.southwark.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/voting-and-elections/the-annual-electoral-canvass

[Angelina]

We had a lady last week. She had an ipad/ tablet. She was very pleasant. She introduced herself through the door, offered identification and left information for us to provide follow up information.

[KidKruger]

If anyone's rude to you on YOUR own doorstep, for any reason, tell them to kindly do one !!

[ianr]

Was this person, as I assumed, following up their non-receipt of a Household Enquiry Form response from your address? If so, there's a Doorstep Script for Canvassers downloadable from the Part 3 resources of https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/electoral-administrator/running-electoral-registration, showing how things should ideally run. The first two pages pertain to HEFs. ITRs, as on p3 are Invitations To Register, which may be sent to anyone new mentioned in the HEF.

[JohnL]

The worst that can happen is you can't vote - so why someone would be grumpy as if you've missed a mandatory probation check I wouldn't know (unless they had a very bad day :) )

[Zebedee Tring]

If the Southwark person was rude and aggressive, make a complaint about her. Electoral Registration won't be happy if one of their people is behaving like this towards a member of the public.

[trinidad]

Hello pixie, passports are normally asked for on the door step to complete a Invitation to register (ITR). As posters have mentioned above, canvassers are normally sent to addresses because of a lack of response from the householder (IE failure to return a form back to electoral services).

I am sure the canvasser would of requested the first stage of identity which is a request for a national insurance number, the second stage of identification (eg passport) is requested when a NI number is not supplied.

I can see from your comments above, that you have always voted, however, you do need to return the yearly form sent to every address in the borough, failure to do so may lead to your voting status being withdrawn which means you will have to re register again, again of simply confirming your details.

I am sorry to learn a canvasser was "rude and aggressive" since the 12th September, have you and fellow electors in your household completed there ITR in full (including the identification)?

Canvassers are currently out and about in ED to addresses.