Cabinet Office: We pledge safeguards
A Cabinet Office spokesperson comments on voter registration:
"The move to individual electoral registration will modernise the electoral system and help to combat fraud. We welcome the committee's support for its introduction.
"We are putting safeguards in place to stop people 'dropping off' the register, as well as looking at ways we can increase registration levels.
"The deputy prime minister has made it clear that the government will carefully consider concerns that have been raised about the proposal to allow people to 'opt out' of being invited to register to vote for a limited period.
"We want it to be as easy as possible to register, while keeping the register more accurate and up to date. Under the new system, everyone will be invited to register in 2014 and will receive a number of reminders – if they do not respond they will then be visited at their home by an electoral registration officer to ask them to register.
"In addition, there will be publicity to make people aware of the change and we are looking at opening up new ways of registering, including online registration. We are also trialling data matching – comparing the electoral register against other public databases to find people missing from the register.
"The government welcomes the report and will study it carefully, along with the responses to the public consultation, before responding in due course."
