Privacy Notice: Electoral Services

The Electoral Registration Officer at Great Yarmouth Borough Council (the Council), is the data controller for the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulations (EU) 2016 (GDPR). 

Why we are collecting your data

We will use your personal information for the purposes of registering your right to vote. The processing of this information is necessary for the Council under its legal obligations as defined under Article 6(1)(c) of the GDPR. We are required by law to provide an electoral service. The processing of your information is necessary for compliance with the legal obligations contained within electoral legislation.

What kind of personal data do we process?

We keep records about potential and actual electors, voters, citizens, candidates and their agents and staff employed at an election.

These records may include:

• Your name, address, nationality and date of birth
• Signature
• National Insurance number
• Scanned application forms, documentary evidence, dates of any letters of correspondence
• Notes about relevant circumstances that you have told us
• Your previous or any redirected address
• Whether you have chosen to opt out of the open version of the register

How we use your data

We use your information in a variety of ways:

• To process applications for registration
• To process applications for postal or proxy votes
• To check eligibility to stand as candidates in elections
• To check eligibility to nominate candidates for elections
• For purposes of employing staff (for both electoral registration and election purposes) 

How we store your data

Your information will be kept strictly confidential. Information may be held as a written record, kept on a computer as an electronic record, or as a printed record from our computer system. 

Your details will be kept and updated in accordance with our legal obligations and in line with statutory retention periods. We will only use your data within the terms of data protection laws, will delete your data securely and only keep it for as long as necessary. We will review dates for keeping personal data in the future and if necessary update these privacy notices.

Who we will share your information with

We may share personal information about you.

We are required by law to provide copies of the full Electoral Register to certain organisations and individuals (PDF, 159 KB)(opens new window). They may use it for their own reasons which are different to ours but they still have to look after the data contained in the register in the same way that we do.

To verify your identity, the data you provide will be processed by the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service managed by the Cabinet Office. As part of this process your data will be shared with the Department of Work and Pensions and the Cabinet Office suppliers that are data processors for the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service. You can find out more information about this here (opens new window).

We may also check with other departments within the Council in order to verify your eligibility to vote.

Information may also be shared with the Government Digital Service.

The providers of our electoral registration and election management system may also process your information, but only on our instructions. They will not use it for any other reasons and are subject to the same privacy requirements as the Council.

Our printing contractor will also use your information but only on our instructions and only for electoral registration and election purposes.

If you are included in the Open Register, by law your register information can be shared with anyone who requests it. They may use it for their own reasons that are different to ours but they must look after your data in the same way that we do.

In accordance with law, the full Electoral Register has to be made available for public inspection and we do this by making it available to inspect at Great Yarmouth Borough Council, Electoral Services, Town Hall, Great Yarmouth NR30 2QF. Inspection is done under supervision. People who inspect the register can make handwritten notes but cannot take copies or photographs of the register.

The full register and open register do not contain your telephone number and/or email address.

Your rights

You have a number or rights available to you, including the right to see copies of all the data held about you, to ask for it to be corrected or deleted, to request the Council to restrict what it does with your data in certain circumstances, to object to what the Council may do with your data, and to data portability. 

Please note that these rights are not absolute and there are circumstances where they do not apply or the Council may override these rights, however, if this is the case you will be informed of this.

Further information

If you want more information you may contact the Council's Data Protection Officer at gdpr@great-yarmouth.gov.uk or telephone the Council on 01493 846325 and ask to speak to the Data Protection Officer. If you are unhappy with the way your personal information is being handled you can contact the independent Information Commissioner at: https://ico.org.uk/.