Annual Canvass

You are here

What is the annual canvass?

The Electoral Registration Officer at the Council has a duty to carry out an annual canvass in order to maintain an up-to-date Register of Electors and to ensure that all individuals in a household who are eligible to vote are registered to do so. This starts on 1 July each year. To do this, every residential property in Ipswich is contacted by email, telephone, letter or form to obtain a response. Canvass communications are dispatched in stages, over several months from July through to November. Watch our video explaining the canvass.

The annual canvass period ends on 30 November each year, with a revised version of the electoral register being published by 1 December each year, containing updated information collected during the canvass.

What do I need to do?

It is a legal requirement for all households to respond if you are asked to do so, including households where there are no eligible electors or households where individuals do not wish to use their vote at elections. Responses can be made on-line, by telephone or by text messaging – details of these methods, along with a security code can be found on the communication we send to you. If these digital methods cannot be accessed, you can post back a response.

For those households where we ask for a response and it hasn’t been received by the return date given on the communication we sent to you, another communication will be sent to you to remind you that you need to respond. If a response still isn’t received Canvassers will make door to door visits to the households and / or telephone calls to collect a response.

Please help us to reduce the number of printed forms sent out by responding to the first communication sent to you as early as possible.

Please note: the canvass communications you respond to are not registration to vote forms. Once we know who is eligible to register to vote in a household, a form called an Invitation to Register (ITR) will be sent to all individuals who are currently not registered. The ITR asks for details including date of birth, nationality and National Insurance number. Instead of waiting for this form to be sent, it is quicker to provide this information by going online at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

E-canvass - July

We will email electors who we have email addresses for with details on how to respond to the annual canvass. The email will be sent from elections@ipswich.gov.uk.

If we hold an email address for more than one person in the property, each individual person will receive an email but only one person needs to respond if updates are needed.

Follow the instructions in the email to update and report a change to your household. 

Make sure you respond online as soon as possible to save a paper reminder being sent.

Please be assured that this email is genuine, but if you are unsure please contact electoral services.

Here is an example of what the email will look like:

A screenshot of an annual canvass email

Canvass letter - August

If we do not hold an email address for you or if you haven’t responded to the email we sent you, a canvass letter will be posted to you explaining to you any further steps that you have to take.

The form will contain details of all those in the household who are registered to vote. Where a property has no registered electors, the form will be blank.

The easiest way to respond is by using the online response form, by following the instructions on your letter. If this method cannot be accessed, you can post back a response.

Canvass form - September

If you haven’t responded to the canvass letter sent in August, a canvass form will be posted to you explaining that you must respond and how to respond.

The form will contain details of all those in the household who are registered to vote. Where a property has no registered electors, the form will be blank.

The easiest way to respond is by using the online response form, by following the instructions on your letter. If this method cannot be accessed, you can post back a response.

Canvasser visit – October and November

If there is still no response from your property, then a canvasser (a person employed by the Council) will visit your property to obtain the information we have requested. A canvasser will call up to 3 times, any day Monday to Sunday, between 8AM to 8PM and will carry a photo ID card with a unique number and a telephone number which can be called to check their identity. The canvasser will ask you to confirm the names, dates of birth and nationalities of household members and will never ask you for any financial or bank details. The canvasser will never ask to enter your property.