Obtaining someone's address from the electoral register

Mimosa

Hello, I'm unsure if this is the right place to put this thread but would very much appreciate your input.


I am very happily married (this could be relevant). At my job (supermarket) I meet all kinds of people. I am chatty and pleasant to customers and enjoy the interaction. One of these customers is a well-known councillor for our ward. Coming up for the May election, he never fails to mention his party and is campaigning by stealth. And my pleasant, chatty nature has been my undoing, it seems. He was talking to me, managed to get out of me my surname (he got my first name from my name badge) and the area where I live. He is councillor for my ward after all, and I was talking to him about something that was happening in our area, so this is how he got that bit of information. He was never, and would not be told my address at all.


Approximately two weeks or so later, there is a knock at the door. Lo and behold there he stands.:eek: I was shocked and asked him how he knew where I lived. He said he had got our address from the electoral register. We are not on the edited/open electoral register. He wants me to help with his party's campaign, which I am not willing to and did not give him any reason to think I would be interested. He comes to me whilst I am at work and am unable to get away from him, and asks me for my phone number. I gave him my old, dead mobile number just to get him to move on otherwise I have some very irate customers thinking that I am having a natter with a friend. He is a pest and has issues with boundaries. He has been sanctioned/reprimanded/told off twice for "inappropriate conduct". I am not some young twenty-something, but certainly feel stupid that my outgoing nature could have been perceived as something other than good customer service.


So, my question is this: was he allowed to get my details from the electoral register without my permission and use them to come to my house to try and rope me into his campaign?

SanguineSteve

I'm pretty sure electoral roll info is available to anyone wishing to look at it.

I have been tracked down through it before and felt pretty violated too!

PlutoinCapricorn

It seems that he is entitled to look at the full version:

"The full version
Everyone’s name and address goes on the full version of the electoral register. The full version of the register is only used for:

elections
preventing and detecting crime
checking applications for loans or credit
Find out more about the difference between the ‘open register’ and the electoral register.
https://www.gov.uk/electoral-register/opt-out-of-the-open-register

fluffnutter

The full register can indeed be used for political campaigning although I'd suggest the way this individual has specifically targeted you feels a little creepy and intrusive.

Complain to his party.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/en/uksi/2013/3198/schedule/3/chapter/2/made

RAS

Several different issues here:

1. Anyone can search the public register in person. A copy is often held at the main library; that is certainly where I access it. You cannot copy it or trawl it but you can ask for a particular street etc.

2. As an electoral candidate he may well have a list of potential voters that he keeps for campaigning purposes. Certainy one I knew had a full listing with background on potential voters and records of where not to bother trying.

If you know he is a pest why engage with him inthe first place?

Have you considered speaking to his ward committee?

Poppie68

Regardless of where he got the address or how it sounds like he harassing you. Report him to the council if they don't deal with the issue contact the Local Government Ombudsman.

fluffnutter

SanguineSteve wrote: »

I'm pretty sure electoral roll info is available to anyone wishing to look at it.

Not so. The full register is only available to certain people/organisations. The open register is available to all (for a fee). The OP is not on the open register.

fluffnutter

Dish the dirt, OP. Is he Ukip?

PlutoinCapricorn

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.

Mimosa

Hi all.

Thanks for the information. It seems he has accessed my address for the purpose of getting me (and my husband - even the dog!) to do something for the campaign. He is not from UKIP, and is very high up in the council and this town's (blue) party.

Why do I/did I engage with him? Well, when you are sitting on a checkout and he comes along with his shopping, what can I do? At present, we are being watched like a hawk because they want to make job cuts and anyone not adhering to the criteria will be in the firing line. My head is facing the other way, whilst packing and chatting and when I look up, he is there. I couldn't go anywhere, and I just had to serve him. I made the mistake of asking him about an issue in my area and what was going on with it. He did not come to my house to give me an answer to my question, but to ask me to do some stuff for the campaign.

I just wanted to know if him obtaining my address like that was legit. As I said, boundaries are somewhat of an issue with him. I have looked up online about him after one of our security guards warned me (after he had seen me write my old number on his card). He definitely will not be phoning me. I cannot see how he would have thought by me asking something to do with our area would translate as "I am here, ready to do anything for your campaign, please call on me." Perhaps next time I should launch into a spiel about how his government is failing those most in need, etc. I'd never see him again.:D

I have warned my colleagues and they remain tight-lipped when he comes in. He doesn't come to me all the time as he is possibly campaigning down the checkout line, seeing a new colleague each time. In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger: he'll be back.

fluffnutter

Hah! Tory! They're nearly as bad