Register EVERY voter

The forgotten millions

One citizen excluded from our political system is one too many.

Yet in the UK today, official figures indicate that up to 8 million eligible voters are not on the UK’s electoral register or are incorrectly registered.

That’s the equivalent of every voter in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Greater Manchester, Leeds, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Essex and Staffordshire!

These forgotten millions have no say and no stake in our democratic system.

Who are they?

Young people are the most likely to be voiceless in our political system. A third of 18/19 year olds are not correctly registered to vote, compared to just one in twenty of the over 65s.

Registration rates for white voters are at 87%, but for black voters it is just 72% - this has fallen in the last five years.

People renting their home are less likely to be registered to vote. More than 4 in 10 people living in private rented accommodation were not correctly registered, compared to less than 1 in 10 of those who owned their own home.

Register every voter

We believe that every eligible citizen should be registered to vote.

We’re calling for a new system of registering eligible voters that will restore the voices of those who have been forgotten. You can read more about it in our new report.

Instead of relying on individuals to register individually, citizens would be automatically registered when they apply for things like a drivers’ licence, passport, or benefits. People would be able to opt out if they choose.

Automatic Voter Registration has had dramatic results in other countries. In the US state of Colorado (a state of about 6 million people), an Automatic Voter Registration scheme added 200,000 new voters to the electoral register in a single year!

Automatic Voter Registration is not expensive, and it might even save money in the long run. In one US state, the cost of gathering each registration via this route is 3 cents, as opposed to 83 cents by the traditional paper methods.

We know that registration alone won’t give these people a voice, but it is an important step forward.  Their presence alone in turnout figures at elections will highlight their existence and, we hope, force politicians to engage with their issues.

The Welsh Government is planning to introduce Automatic Voter Registration for Welsh elections, but the whole of the UK must get on board.

Unlock Democracy and a coalition of democracy organisations are campaigning to encourage all political parties to commit to Automatic Voter Registration.