Elections Office privacy notice

This privacy notice applies to data obtained in the following ways:

1. Data obtained directly from data subjects

  • Applications to register to vote, absent vote applications, voter authority certificate applications and change of name applications submitted by post, email, telephone or in person.
  • Responses to the annual canvass of the electoral register submitted by post, telephone, in person or via the online portal.
  • Candidate nomination papers and associated paperwork for local elections, i.e. details of candidates, agents and subscribers.
  • Documentation and information provided by elections staff for employment purposes e.g. proof of eligibility to work in the United Kingdom.
  • Postal vote return forms and other elections stationary, e.g. Declarations for the Companion of a Voter with Disabilities.
  • Information collected by polling station staff and recorded in polling station log books, e.g. details of updates required to the electoral register.
  • Information obtained by Elections Office staff when dealing with enquiries from members of the public.

There is a legal requirement for you to respond to a canvass communication or to an invitation to register to vote. In other cases, you need to provide your data if would like to achieve specific outcomes, e.g. you would like a postal vote, you would like to stand as a candidate in an election, you would like to work in a polling station.

2. Data obtained via a third party

  • Applications to register to vote, absent vote applications and voter authority certificate applications submitted online received from MHCLG’s Digital Electoral Services.
  • Notifications of people moving out of the area received from MHCLG’s Digital Electoral Services.
  • Council tax listings and business rates listings for the Council of the Isles of Scilly, accessed via the revenues database administered under a service level agreement by Cornwall Council. We use this information for the purposes of (i) local data matching ahead of the annual canvass of the electoral register and (ii) providing evidence of people’s entitlement to be registered at particular properties more generally.
  • For UK Parliamentary elections, official notices containing details of candidates, agents and subscribers are received from the Acting Returning Officer for the St Ives constituency – and details of candidates are also provided on the ballot papers.

For information obtained via a third party, we are required to state explicitly whether the data includes any special category data. Applications to register to vote do include special category data in the form of nationality details.

Who will control my data?

The Data Controller is the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) and Returning Officer (RO), Council of the Isles of Scilly, Old Wesleyan Chapel, Garrison Lane, St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly, TR21 0JD (Data Protection Registration Number: ZA017879).

There’s something I don’t understand

If you need any help in relation to this privacy notice, please contact the Elections Office on telephone number 01720 424545 or by emailing elections@scilly.gov.uk.

How we will use the information about you

The ERO and RO collect and use information about residents to carry out their statutory functions (under the Representation of the People Act 1983 and other elections legislation) in relation to maintaining the electoral register and running elections.

The prescribed form of words for explaining the purposes for which the full electoral register and the open register may each be used is given below:

There are two registers. Why?

Using information received from the public, registration officers keep two registers – the electoral register and the open register (also known as the edited register).

The electoral register lists the names and addresses of everyone who is registered to vote in public elections.

The register is used for electoral purposes – such as making sure only eligible people can vote – and for other limited purposes specified in law. The personal data in the register must always be processed in line with data-protection legislation.

Who uses the electoral register?

  • Election staff, political parties, candidates and holders of elected office use the register for electoral purposes.
  • Your local council and the British Library hold copies that anyone may look at under supervision. A copy is also held by the Electoral Commission, the Boundary Commissions (which set constituency boundaries for most elections) and the Office for National Statistics.
  • The council can use the register for duties relating to security, enforcing the law and preventing crime. The police and the security services can also use it for law enforcement.
  • The register is used when calling people for jury service.
  • Government departments may buy the register from local registration officers and use it to help prevent and detect crime. They can also use it to safeguard national security by checking the background of job applicants and employees.
  • Credit reference agencies can buy the register. They help other organisations to check the names and addresses of people applying for credit. They also use it to carry out identity checks when trying to prevent and detect money laundering.

It is a criminal offence for anyone to supply or use the register for anything else.

The open register is an extract of the electoral register, but is not used for elections. It can be bought by any person, company or organisation. For example, it is used by businesses and charities to confirm name and address details. The personal data in the register must always be processed in line with data-protection legislation.

Your name and address will be included in the open register unless you ask for them to be removed. Removing your details from the open register would not affect your right to vote.

Who uses the open register?

Users of the open register include:

  • businesses checking the identity and address details of people who apply for their services such as insurance, goods hire and property rental, as well as when they shop online.
  • businesses selling age-restricted goods or services, such as alcohol and gambling online, to meet the rules on verifying the age of their customers.
  • charities and voluntary agencies, for example to help maintain contact information for those who have chosen to donate bone marrow and to help people separated by adoption to find each other.
  • charities, to help with fundraising and contacting people who have made donations.
  • debt-collection agencies when tracing people who have changed address without telling their creditors.
  • direct-marketing firms when maintaining their mailing lists.
  • landlords and letting agents when checking the identity of potential tenants.
  • local councils when identifying and contacting residents.
  • online directory firms to help users of the websites find people, such as when reuniting friends and families.
  • organisations tracing and identifying beneficiaries of wills, pensions and insurance policies.
  • private-sector firms to verify details of job applicants.

(Schedule 3, The Representation of the People (England and Wales) (Description of Electoral Registers and Amendment) Regulations 2013)

Who else will we share your information with in order to maintain the electoral register or conduct elections?

  • Details of electors (including potential/former electors) are shared with our electoral management software provider (Democracy Counts, 2nd Floor, Unit 2 Forrest Way, Gatewarth Industrial Estate, Warrington, Cheshire, WA5 1DF) for the purpose of compiling and managing the register.
  • We share information with MHCLG’s Digital Electoral Services and DWP for a number of purposes:
    • details of current electors for the national data matching exercise at the start of the annual canvass of the electoral register.
    • personal identifiers from applications to register to vote submitted by post, email, telephone or in person for identity verification.
    • absent vote applications and voter authority certificate applications submitted by post, email, telephone or in person for processing via the ERO Portal.
    • applications for anonymous registration for processing via the ERO Portal.
  • Details of candidates are published in official election notices (i.e. Statement of Persons Nominated, Notice of Election Agents, Notice of Poll, Declaration of Result), in press releases and on ballot papers.
  • Details of agents are published in the Notice of Election Agents.
  • Details of subscribers are published in the Notice of Poll.
  • For UK Parliamentary elections, we share the electoral register and absent voting lists (including the personal identifiers record) with the Acting Returning Officer for the St Ives constituency at Cornwall Council for the purposes of (i) confirming the eligibility of nominations, (ii) sharing with their printers to print poll cards and postal voting packs and (iii) conducting postal vote opening sessions.
  • For local government elections (i.e. when we administer the nominations process):
    • nomination forms and consents to nomination may be inspected by any person from the close of nominations to the day before polling day.
    • home address forms may be inspected by other candidates and their election agents (and certain others) from the close of nominations to the day before polling day.
    • candidate contact details will be forwarded to the Force Elected Official Advisors for Devon and Cornwall Police after the close of nominations to allow them to make contact regarding security briefings and guidance (unless the candidate opts out of this when submitting their nomination).
  • Copies of marked registers from polling stations (i.e. showing whether you have voted but not how you have voted) are shared upon request with those who are entitled in law to receive them after an election.
  • Elections staff details are shared with the payroll department at Cornwall Council to facilitate payments.
  • We will also share information where the health or safety of others is at risk or where the law requires us to do so, e.g. where a formal court order has been issued or for the prevention or detection of a crime.

Safeguards

Your data will be held within the secure network and premises of the Council of the Isles of Scilly and will not be processed outside of the UK. Access to your information will only be made to authorised members of staff who are required to process it for the purposes outlined in this privacy notice.

Our sub-contractors will also maintain the same levels of security that we do which are set out in the contract we have with them.

How long will you keep this information for?

Your details will be kept in line with statutory retention periods and our retention schedule.

What are my data rights?

Your personal information belongs to you and you have the right to:

  • be informed of how we will process it.
  • request a copy of what we hold about you and in commonly used electronic format if you wish (if you provided this to us electronically for automated processing, we will return it in the same way).
  • have it amended if it’s incorrect or incomplete.
  • have it deleted (where we do not have a legal requirement to retain it).
  • withdraw your consent if you no longer wish us to process.
  • restrict how we process it.
  • object to us using it for marketing or research purposes.
  • object to us using it in relation to a legal task or in the exercise of an official authority.
  • request that a person reviews an automated decision where it has had an adverse effect on you.

How do I exercise these rights?

If you would like to access any of the information we hold about you or have concerns regarding the way we have processed your information, please contact:

Data Protection Officer
Council of the Isles of Scilly
Old Wesleyan Chapel
Garrison Lane
St Mary’s
Isles of Scilly
TR21 0JD
Email: dpo@scilly.gov.uk

I don’t agree with something

We would prefer any complaints to be made to us initially so that we have the opportunity to see if we can put things right. If, however, you are unhappy with the way we have processed your information or how we have responded to your request to exercise any of your rights in relation to your data, you can raise your concerns directly with the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Tel No: 0303 123 1113
Website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/