Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what checks are made to ensure that a person is eligible to vote when they register to vote online.

Online applications to register to vote are processed under the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service, operated by the Cabinet Office. This service checks the details provided by the applicant, including their National Insurance number, against government data before passing the application to the relevant local electoral administration team.

Responsibility for determining the validity of an application lies with each local Electoral Registration Officer (ERO). For applications with no National Insurance number and other applications not verified through the digital service, the ERO will seek further information regarding identity. For all applications, the ERO is also responsible for ensuring that other eligibility requirements, such as the nationality of the applicant, are satisfactorily met.

The Government considers the integrity of the electoral register of the utmost importance and has recently welcomed the report published by Sir Eric Pickles into electoral fraud. It is the Government’s intention to respond to this report shortly.