Ninety-eight per cent of St Albans residents who are eligible to vote have been registered on the electoral register under the new Individual Electoral Registration system (IER).

The Government’s introduced the new IER system in June, which means residents are now responsible for registering themselves on the electoral register so that they can vote. 

Under the old system the head of the household was responsible for registering everyone living at the property who was eligible to vote.

In the summer, the council wrote to voters informing them about the new IER system. Most residents (93 percent) were told that they were automatically transferred onto the new electoral register following a data matching process. 

Matches were not found for the remaining 7 percent (7,832) and they were invited to re-register under the new system over the following months. 

If no response was received, they were then sent a reminder and paid a visit by a canvasser reminding them to register. Since then, more people have registered taking the percentage of eligible voters who have registered under IER to 98.4 percent.

To register to vote visit: www.gov.uk/register-to-vote or call 01727 819294.