Annual canvass of residents

Every year, we are required by law to contact your household to find out if there have been any changes to who is eligible to be registered to vote at your address. We will be contacting your household again from August 2024.

By law, we must carry out an annual canvass of all residential properties to ensure we have the correct residents registered to vote (including any 16 or 17 year olds). We do this by contacting all residential addresses in the borough to ask if the details we hold are still accurate. We will be contacting your household again from August 2024.

The information we receive is used to invite unregistered residents to register to vote and to remove the names of electors who are no longer living at their registered address.

Properties will be contacted in different phases, so not all addresses will receive something from us at the same time. If you receive a request for information, please respond straightaway. If we don’t receive a prompt response, we are required to send reminders and may also employ canvassers to visit your property, which costs the Council money.

Please note that your response may not automatically update information on the electoral register. We will contact you if further action is required.

Where new names are provided, an invitation to register will be sent by post or emailed to those eligible to register to vote. These names will not be included in the electoral register until the individuals have made successful applications to register to vote. There is no need to wait for the invitation - any new residents who are eligible to vote should register to vote (GOV.UK) as soon as possible.

How we will contact you

Your household will receive either:

• An email. If you have previously provided an email address to Electoral Services, you may receive an email communication in relation to the above.
• A confirmation letter addressed to 'The Resident/Occupier' by post. You will be asked to check the names of people living at your address. You only need to respond if you need to make a change or update the information printed on the letter.
• A canvass form addressed to the 'The Resident/Occupier' by post. This form will ask you to confirm who is currently eligible to vote in your household. By law, you must respond to this form and provide the information requested.
• A paper form. A form may be delivered to your property (addressed to 'The Occupier(s)').
• A personal visit. If we do not receive a response to a request and information is still required from your household, one of our electoral registration canvassers may visit your address to collect the required information. If there is no answer when they visit your address, they will leave one of our ‘Voter Registration Calling Cards'. Please respond as soon as possible, as the canvasser may have to visit again if a prompt response is not received.

Please note that there is a criminal penalty for failing to provide the information required when requested to do so by the Electoral Registration Officer of a maximum of £1,000. The penalty for providing false information to an Electoral Registration Officer is imprisonment of up to 51 weeks or, (on summary conviction) an unlimited fine.

How to respond

To confirm or update the details for your household:

• Renew your registration online. On the login page, please enter both parts of the security code that is on the letter, canvass form or email you have received.

If you have no changes to make, you can also respond via the following methods:

• Text NOCHANGE followed by part 1 and part 2 of your security code to 80212 (standard charges apply) or
• Call 0800 884 0701

New residents at your address need to apply to register

Each new resident at your address whose details were provided to us in response to the letter, canvass form or email your household received must complete an application to be registered to vote at your address. Each new resident can apply now at gov.uk/register-to-vote.

Any new resident at your address who does not register as soon as possible will receive a letter or email from us to formally invite them to register to vote at your address.

Please note that it is a legal requirement to register to vote when invited by the Electoral Registration Officer to do so. A person failing to register without providing an adequate reason may be fined £80.

If you have any questions regarding the communications you receive from us or registering to vote, email electoral.services@richmond.gov.uk.

Further information

Read frequently asked questions about annual voter registration.