Representation of the People Act 2000

Registers of electors

3For section 9 substitute—

“9Registers of electors

(1)Each registration officer shall maintain—

(a)a register of parliamentary electors for each constituency or part of a constituency in the area for which he acts; and

(b)a register of local government electors for the local government areas or parts of local government areas included in the area for which he acts.

(2)Each register shall contain—

(a)the names of the persons appearing to the registration officer to be entitled to be registered in it (subject to their complying with any prescribed requirements);

(b)(subject to any prescribed exceptions) the qualifying addresses of the persons registered in it; and

(c)in relation to each such person, that person’s electoral number.

(3)A person’s electoral number is such number (with or without any letters) as is for the time being allocated by the registration officer to that person as his electoral number for the purposes of the register in question.

(4)Electoral numbers shall be allocated by a registration officer in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that in each separate part of a register the numbers run consecutively.

(5)The registers of parliamentary electors and of local government electors shall so far as practicable be combined, the names of persons registered only as parliamentary electors or local government electors being marked to indicate that fact.

(6)A registration officer’s duty under subsection (1) above includes the duty to take reasonable steps to obtain information required by him in connection with the performance of his duty under that subsection (without prejudice to any specific requirement of this Act or regulations under it).

(7)Where under this section two or more registration officers maintain registers of parliamentary electors in respect of different parts of the same constituency, then in relation to that constituency any reference in this Act (whether express or implied) to the register of parliamentary electors for a constituency shall be read—

(a)as a reference to one of those registers, or

(b)in relation to one of those registration officers, as the register maintained by him,

as the context may require.

(8)In this Act—

(a)any reference, in relation to a registration officer, to“his” registers is a reference to the registers maintained by him under this section; and

(b)“qualifying address”, in relation to a person registered in a register of electors, is the address in respect of which he is entitled to be so registered.”