9,000 vanish from Black Country and Staffordshire electoral register
More than 9,000 people have fallen off the electoral register across the Black Country and South Staffordshire, it has emerged – with an MP blaming a new application system for putting people off.
Nationally almost one million voters have disappeared from the register, particularly in towns and cities with large numbers of students and young people.
The government is overseeing the introduction of 'individual electoral registration' where each potential voter has to fill out a form instead of one person completing a form for everyone in their household.
In South Staffordshire there has been a drop of 3,488 over the last year, while there are 2,189 fewer people registered in Sandwell.
Some 1,681 people have fallen off the register in Cannock Chase, with 597 in Walsall, 551 in Dudley and 539 in Wolverhampton.
In total the number registered across all areas has gone from 1,008,632 to 999,587.
Dudley North MP Ian Austin is calling for a drive to get more people signed up ahead of the General Election, saying he is concerned that thousands of people will not be eligible to vote in May is they are not on the register.
He said: "It's a scandal that thousands of people across the Black Country have lost their chance to vote since the introduction of this system.
"The Government must do much more to tackle the problems caused by these rushed reforms instead of sitting idle.
"I'll be doing everything I can to make sure everyone in Dudley is signed up and ready to cast their vote in May."
But the Government insists the process is being made simpler by scrapping the 'outdated head of household' registration system.
Bosses say the new system is able to verify that everyone on the register is who they say they are – ensuring elections are fair.
Minister of State at the cabinet Office Greg Clark said: "It is only right that in a country which has such a long and proud history of democratic participation, we ensure that we have an electoral registration system fit for the 21st century.
"These changes ensure that individuals register securely and enable them to register in the simplest possible way."
People can now register online by providing their name, address, date of birth and National Insurance number – which the Government says is a simpler and more efficient process.
For information on how to register to vote visit www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
