Electoral roll

[hessey50]

Put this here as seems most likely place feel free to relocate:

Query about the threatening letters being sent out to residents who are still minors by Elections at Portsmouth City Council filled my electoral roll form including daughter as she is just 16 in the section for this.

 

They send her a form to require my daughter to register as it says on the form it will “mean you can vote at elections” No it does not! If she fails to register by 30/12/15 there is an £80 fine involved. When contacted the officer at Election Services had no idea of the legislation backing this threat up or the right to demand information from a minor and tried to hedge and say it was an invite, you can invite someone to an interview under caution but they don’t have to attend or you arrest them and they do.

 

As soon as there is an element of coercion it ceases to be an invite its making someone an offer they can’t refuse. The other excuse was that the form was provided by the Electoral commission and they just sent it out and they wanted to be ready for when she would be eligible to vote and the age is being reviewed, but the government is staunchly against this and so it will not change till at least after the next election..

 

Asked if their head of legal services had checked the form told they wouldn’t alter an Electoral Commission form. Is this really a good way to encourage young people to engage in politics? I suspect most teens will just dump it in the bin so it could be a nice little earner for Portsmouth City Council. Anyone else had this?

Edited December 16, 2015 by citizenB

[ericsbrother]

the old forms required the householder to enter the detail of anyone approaching the age of 18 but the new system requires the individuals to register themselves. How do they get their info? by sending out the old type form. So question is does your daughter need to register herself. The government site say she CAN register but that doesnt imply that she has to. Perhaps your daughter should ask under what peice of legislation is she obliged to as the draft paper was withdrawn last year. That also included a lot of other things like being able to vote for "none of the above" (my favourite candidate)

[citizenB]

Why not speak to someone on your local newspaper - I am sure they would be happy to print something like this ?

[hessey50]

Spoke to electoral commission they say she must register or be fined if asked to register by local authority but again cant say why they lie on the form saying it means you can vote contacted mp

[citizenB]

https://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/ext/documents-external/dem-electoral-registration-form.pdf

 

Hmm, well according to this you do have to register once you pass your 16th birthday, but you just cant vote until you are 18 !!

[Bazooka Boo]

I only just registered with PCC last year, having never been registered to vote in my life, I had all the threat letters from PCC saying that I had to register ''by LAW'', but when I asked their doorstepper to tell me which Law they were referring to they couldn't, so simply told them I wasn't interested and shut the door.

 

They use the threat of fining you so they can get their bit of commission out of you, plus councils are under pressure to force residents to register to vote, because that;s what a democracy is, forcing you to vote, or face a financial penalty.

[hessey50]

The vote bit is not my issue, personally I think if you don't vote you cant moan, its about a minor who cannot vote being forced to put her details on the electoral roll with the lie that this means she can vote.

[hessey50]

The form says you can register at 16 but can't vote till 18 the form PCC send out says you must register or be fined and by registering you can vote!

[Bazooka Boo]

The vote bit is not my issue, personally I think if you don't vote you cant moan.

 

Love that argument, personally I think that if you DO vote then you can't moan, after all you voted them in, I just sat at home.

 

However, I completely agree with you, that if YD can't vote until 18, then I fail to see why she needs to be registered.

You could write to Donna Jones and ask her, or Flick Drummond, both as much use as indicators on a submarine, but you never know?

As for fining YD for failing to register, not going to happen, PCC aren't competent enough to string a sentence together least of all an argument!