How we may use your data
Electoral Services
You need to register to vote in elections (Council Elections, Police and Crime Commissioner Elections, Parliamentary Elections, Referendums).
The council appoints an Electoral Registration Officer to maintain the Electoral Register. All applications are checked automatically with the Department for Work and Pensions under electoral law.
To allow you to vote in elections. We are required by law to provide an electoral service. In order for us to do this, you must provide your personal information to us.
We collect your name, address, email address and telephone number. We might also collect your nationality, date of birth, national insurance number or the reason you might require a postal or proxy vote. We may require further evidence from you such as copies of your passport, marriage certificate or driving licence.
Whom we might share your information with?
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published guidance for organisations on data protection and Covid19 which confirms that in relation to compliance with data protection, they will take into account the compelling public interest in the current health emergency.
Our software providers will also store your information, but only on our instructions. They will not use it for any other reasons, and they have to look after it in the same way we would. You can view their privacy information here.
We are required to provide copies of the full electoral register to certain organisations and individuals by law. They may use it for their own reasons that are different to ours, but they still have to look after it in the same way. A full list of these organisations and individuals can be viewed on the Electoral Commissions website here.
The Department for Work and Pensions will also use your information to verify your eligibility for the electoral register. They will not use it for any other reasons and they have to look after it in the same way. You can view their privacy information here.
If you have opted to be included in the open register, by law your information can be shared with anyone who requests it. They may use it for their own reasons that are different to ours, but they still have to look after it in the same way. The electoral register can be viewed, but not copied, at Futures Park, Bacup, Rossendale, OL13 0BB by anyone.
Our printing company will also use your information, but only on our instructions. They will not use it for any other reasons, and they have to look after it in the same way we would.
Partner organisations
The Cabinet Office via the Individual Electoral Registration (IER) Digital Service controls the process of checking citizens’ personal identifiers to ensure eligibility for inclusion in the Electoral Register.
This includes:
- The Department for Work and Pensions who use data provided to verify the identity of new applicants
- The Cabinet Office will inform the old local authority of people who have moved area
Information will be processed within the European Economic Area (EEA) and will not be shared with overseas recipients. If your details are in the Open version of the Electoral Register, your name and address can be sold to third parties who may use it for any purpose. You can opt out of this version at any time and are given the opportunity annually as part of the Canvass of all households.
Some Rossendale areas form part of the Blackburn & Darwen & Accrington parliamentary constituencies and if you live within any of these areas, your data will be shared between the Council’s for administering parliamentary elections.
What do we do with your information?
We use it to compile the electoral register and to run elections. We will not use it for any other purposes without your consent, or without telling you first.
Sometimes we have to give it to other authorities, organisations or people who have a legal right to ask for it such as internal departments for planning matters or property development. We do not need your consent to do this, but if it is appropriate, we will let you know if we have passed your information on.