04/07/2013

Councils Urged To Push For Young People To Join Electoral Register

Some £4 million will be shared out amongst councils in an effort to get more 16 to 24-years-old on to the electoral register.

The councils are being urged to come up with creative ways to encourage the under-represented group to register to vote.

Local communities are also being asked to contribute ideas for the drive, with the best to be financially backed.

The move comes ahead of a new individual voter register, which comes into force in 2014.

Currently, households are registered collective, with the head of each household responsible for registering all those eligible to vote.

The new system will see each person expected to register individually.

Critics of the new system have said that it risks leaving millions of people potentially disenfranchised, but the government say it will help eliminate fraud and make the register more accurate.

(MH/CD)

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