Pendle residents who are on the electoral register need to look out for letters arriving to explain the recent change to the electoral registration system.
For some people, the change will mean having to re-register while other people will need to take no action at all.
Gillian Turpin, Pendle Council’s Elections Manager, said: “The new system, called Individual Electoral Registration, came in last month across England and Wales. It means that everyone must register to vote individually now rather than by household.
“The new system aims to help tackle electoral fraud since it requires people to use their date of birth and National Insurance number to register to vote.
“Once they’ve applied to go on the electoral register, their record will be checked against government records to verify their identity.
“When the letters arrive, the majority of Pendle residents will see that they don’t have to do anything at this stage.
“But around 10% of local residents will not automatically be transferred to the new electoral register, and these people will read in their letters what they need to do next.”
The letters will be landing on doormats across Pendle from Monday.
The new system of Individual Electoral Registration also enables online voter registration, which is an easier and more convenient way for people to register to vote.
Help is still available to anyone who would prefer to register to vote using a paper form, but they will still need to provide their date of birth and National Insurance number.
