Annual canvass
The Council has a legal duty to conduct an annual review of the electoral register, sometimes referred to as the annual canvass.
As part of this process we send canvass communications (i.e. emails and/or letters) to every household on the islands. Please follow the instructions on the canvass communication you receive.
If we send an email to your household:
- the email will be sent from the elections@scilly.gov.uk address
- the email will be sent to all registered electors aged 18 or over for whom we hold an email address - but we only require one response from the household.
We use the responses provided during the annual canvass:
- to identify potential voters who are not yet registered and send them an Invitation to Register
- to take action to remove the entries of registered electors who are no longer resident.
Please bear in mind that adding the name of a new person to your canvass response is not enough for them to be added to the register. The new person will need to submit an application to register to vote. They can do this at any time. They do not need to wait to receive an Invitation to Register from us.
The annual canvass of the electoral register runs over the autumn, culminating in the publication of a revised register on 1 December each year.
Monthly updates
After the publication of the revised register on 1 December, we usually update the register on a monthly basis under the scheme of rolling registration.
Depending on the date an application to register to vote is received, a new entry will normally be included on the register on the first working day of the following month or the month after that.
In the event of an election, the law allows you to register to vote up to 12 working days before the election takes place.
Please remember that applications to register to vote can be submitted at any time. There is no need to wait for the annual canvass or for an election to take place.