Would you like the chance to win £250 to spend as you please?
That’s the offer from Lancaster City Council – just for filling in and returning your electoral registration form.
Each year the council is required by law to canvass every household in the district and produce a Register of Electors which is published on 1st December.
The forms for this year’s canvass will be distributed in July and by August 10 every household in the district should have received one.
Those that confirm their details, or register changes to their existing details, by 4th September will be entered into a free prize draw to win £250.
Anyone who has not registered after this date can expect a knock on the door from one of the council’s team of canvassers.
“Registering to vote is vitally important,” says Alison Hughes, Lancaster City Council’s elections officer, explaining the aim of the campaign. “As well as not being able to vote people who are not on the Register of Electors could find their credit rating is affected, meaning that they may be unable to get a bank account, a mortgage, a credit card or sign up for a mobile phone.
“By offering an incentive to people to return their forms on time we hope to ease the burden on our canvassing team and, ultimately, reduce the cost of the annual canvass.”
The service includes a 24 hour Freephone telephone service (0808 161 7649) or the internet registration service (www.register-online.co.uk).
Those using the telephone or internet registration service do not need to return their form as well.
Both the telephone and internet systems also accommodate the ‘opt-out’ rules allowing users to add or remove their names from the edited version of the register used by mailing companies, and to request postal vote applications.
The register will be based on where people will be living on 15th October and it will be published on 1st December 2009.
After the register has been published, people can still apply to be added, for example when they move house, and forms can be obtained from Lancaster or Morecambe Town Halls, by phoning 01524 582905 or via the internet www.lancaster.gov.uk/elections.
This intiative is a complete waste of Tax Payers money. People should not be bribed to register to vote.
It is a waste of time voting in our area because there is a lot of dirty politics in operation and if you go across the river to Morecambe you have a New level of bureaucracy that is Stalanist due to it being completly controled by the Morecambe Bay Independents.
It is time we saw some dynamic action from our elected members within the district as oppose to jumping into bed with each other.