Each year, councils are required to contact every household in the district to confirm details on the electoral register.
South Staffordshire Council will be contacting households across the district to ask residents to confirm who is currently living at the property and eligible to vote..
For more information, please email elections@sstaffs.gov.uk
To help answer questions about the canvass please see the questions and answers below.
Q: What is the purpose of the annual canvass?
A: To ensure that we hold the correct details on our Electoral Register, an annual canvass of all households is undertaken in the district each year between July – November. Your household may be contacted via telephone or letter. You will need to respond if there is a change in your household. You may not need to respond if there are no changes. The communication you receive from us will let you know If we require your response.
Q: How do I complete the information requested on the canvass communication?
A: Completing the form only takes a few minutes. You need to include the name and nationality of everyone aged 16 or over who is resident and eligible to register to vote. If there are no eligible residents, you should state why this is the case. If anyone listed on the form is not living at your address, their name/s should be clearly crossed through.
Q: I have received a telephone call about the annual canvass. Is this from the council?
A: Yes, we are undertaking telephone canvassing for properties that we hold contact details for and have not yet received their response to the letter we sent them. You can request to opt-out of being contacted for telephone canvassing in the future, by contacting us on 01902 696000 or elections@sstaffs.gov.uk, confirming your name and address.
Q: Why do you still need to send a canvass communication every year?
A: In order to know who is eligible to register to vote, including any 16 or 17 year-olds, we need to know who lives at your address. The canvass communication is designed to collect this information. The information provided on the form will allow us to send a separate individual registration form to all the people in your household who are eligible and need to register.
Q: Do I have to respond to a canvass communication?
A: If you have been sent a canvass communication confirming the names of people already living at your address which asks you only to respond if any of the information needs updating, you do not need to respond if there are no changes..
If you have been sent a canvass communication that asks you to make any changes or confirm that the information remains correct, you need to respond by law.
There is a criminal penalty for failing to provide the information required by the canvass form to 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 in England and Wales.
Q: I have already returned a canvass communication, do I need to return the individual registration form I’ve received too?
A: You should complete and return the registration form or register online. The canvass communication is not a registration form but instead provides us with information on who lives in your household. This means we can invite other residents, including any 16 or 17 year-olds, to register to vote if we need to
