Privacy notice: Electoral Services and Elections
You have a right to know about the way information about you is used by us. Please read the following information as it refers to additional rights which you should know about.
This information is used to enable us to Carry out specific functions for which we are responsible and to provide you with a statutory service, as set out in the Representation of the People Act 1983, Electoral Administration Act 2013, Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020, and associated regulations.
The Electoral Registration Officer / Returning Officer is the Data Controller: Annwen Morgan, Isle of Anglesey County Council, Council Offices, Llangefni, LL77 7TW.
This privacy notice explains how the Electoral Registration Officer / Returning Officer for Ynys Môn County Council collects and uses personal information about you to deliver services efficiently and effectively.
The Electoral Registration Officer/Returning Officer is the data controller for your information. This means that the Electoral Registration Officer/Returning Officer protects your information and decides on how it is used. The legal term for using information is processing. Also, the legal term for information about you is personal data.
The Electoral Registration Officer/Returning Officer will use your personal information for the purpose of -
- Conducting an annual canvass of all households to establish all eligible persons who are entitled to be registered;
- Enabling eligible persons to stand as candidates in elections in accordance with statutory requirements and
- Enabling all registered electors to participate as voters in elections/referendums
- Produce poll cards and postal ballot
The information will not be used for purposes that are not compatible with why it is gathered in the first instance.
We keep records about potential and actual electors, details about those that request an election, candidates and their agents, details of those that have subscribed nomination forms, staff employed at an election. These may be written down (manual records), or kept on a computer (electronic records).
These records may include:
- Basic details about you, for example, name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number, contact details (email address/telephone number), signature, nationality and your previous address
- Absent vote information (postal / proxy, including details of your proxy and anyone who has helped you)
- Scanned application forms and dates of any letters of correspondence
- Notes about any relevant circumstances that you have told us
- Any other occupants in your home
- If you are over 76 or between 14 and 18 years old
- Whether you have chosen to opt out of the open version of the register (for further information about the open registergov.uk/register-to-vote) This does not apply to those under 16 who are automatically excluded from the open register.
- Any further evidence we may require from you, such as copies of your passport, EEA identity card, marriage certificate or driving licence
- Political affiliation
It is important that your records are accurate and up-to-date as they will help make sure that our staff are able to provide you with the help, advice or support you need. If your information is not correct, please contact us so that we can rectify this.
The information provided by you will only be used for electoral purposes. We will look after personal information securely and we will follow the data protection legislation.
We will not give personal information about you, or any personal information you may provide on other people, to anyone else or another organisation unless we have to by law.
The name, address and date of birth of any applicant under 18 may be shared by the Electoral Registration Officer with the educational body responsible for applicants education records in accordance with Section 16 of the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020.
An example would be if an applicant lives in this authority but goes to school in a neighbouring authority. This is needed so that the applicants identity can be verified before entering onto the electoral register.
The Electoral Registration Officer/Returning Officer will not use your information for automated decision making or profiling. Profiling means any form of automated processing of your personal data to evaluate or analyse or predict things about you. This could include your economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests or behaviour.
The Electoral Registration Officer/Returning Officer will not transfer your personal information to another country.
The Electoral Registration Officer/Returning Officer collects and uses your personal information because she has a legal duty or right to do so; or to perform a public interest task; or because you have given your consent. The legal term for this is called legal basis of processing.
In this instance, the Electoral Registration Officer/Returning Officer is using your personal information because she has a legal duty or right under the Representation of the People Act 1983, Electoral Administration Act 2013, Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020 and associated regulations.
The Electoral Registration Officer/Returning Officer will collect and share information with public bodies that contains some personal data.
Please note that the council will collect and share data with the Auditor General for Wales (AGW) in connection with his audit work and studies. Data sharing will also take place pursuant to the duty at Section 33 of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009.
We will only use the information you give us for electoral purposes. We will look after personal information securely and we will follow the data protection regulations .
We will not give personal information about you, or any personal information you may provide on other people, to anyone else or another organisation unless we have to by law.
The Electoral Register is a public document which can be viewed by appointment only under strict control.
We are required by law to make available certain documents including candidate's nomination forms and expenses forms for public inspection. The Electoral Register available for public inspection will not contain the names of 14/15 year olds.
There is a requirement for the Electoral Registration Officer/Returning Officer to provide information to various recipients e.g. in order 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 more information about this here: https://www.registertovote.service.gov.uk/register-to-vote/privacy
- Contracted printer or supplier (processor) who act on our behalf
- Council services that need to check names
- Details of whether you have voted (but not how you have voted) to those who are entitled in law to receive it after an election
- Where the health and safety of others is at risk
- When the law requires us to pass on information under special circumstances
- Crime prevention or the detection of fraud as part of the National Fraud
- Before conducting the annual Canvass, the Electoral Registration Officer must disclose data to the Minister for the Cabinet Office as part of a national data match step. The national data match step involves the checking of information already held on the electoral register against data held by the DWP.
We are required by law to provide copies of the full electoral register to certain organisations and individuals. For more information please follow the link below https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/ data/assets/pdf_file/0005/162824/List-of- people-entitled-to-be-supplied-with-the-electoral-register.pdf
Anyone who receives information from us has a legal duty to keep it confidential. They won’t use it for any other reasons and they have to look after it in the same way.
We are required by law to report certain information to appropriate authorities – for example:
- Where a formal court order has been issued
- To law enforcement agencies for the prevention or detection of a crime
- To the Jury Central Summoning Bureau indicating those persons who are aged 76 or over and are no longer eligible for jury
How long for
Your details will be kept and updated in accordance with our legal obligations and in line with statutory retention periods. There are numerous retention periods covering the Electoral Register and documents relating to elections.
Documents are securely destroyed once retention periods have ended. The Electoral Registration Officer/ Returning Officer maintains a separate document retention policy. For further information please contact – Electoral Registration Officer, Isle of Anglesey County Council, Llangefni, LL77 7TW.
Individual information from the national data mining step will not be disclosed to any person other than the Electoral Registration Officer or for the purposes of any civil or criminal proceedings.
The Electoral Registration Officer is legally entitled to access local data sets and to inspect and make copies of records kept by the Council (Regulation 35 and 35A of the Representation of the People (England and Wales Regulations 2001).
Examples of local data sets include council tax data, education data and registrar’s data. The Electoral Registration Officer is able to use this data to match electors and find new electors (data mining).
All local data provided by to the Electoral Registration Officer will be stored securely and processed in accordance with data protection legislation.
Special categories of personal data
Some of the information that is collected is classified as special category personal data. This information is processed for reason of substantial public interest as set out in Representation of the People Act 1983, Electoral Administration Act 2013,Senedd and Elections (Wales)Act 2020 and associated regulations.
To process this type of information we have a separate policy document that sets out how this information will be handled. (Policy available on request from Electoral Registration Officer)
Information held about a person under the age of 16 will be protected as required in the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020.
You have legal rights, and it is important that you know what they are
You have the right to obtain confirmation that information about you is being used. The Electoral Registration Officer/Returning Officer will provide confirmation if you ask for it.
You have rights in relation to the processing of your personal data including the right to object to the use of your email address or telephone contact details for the purposes of electoral registration.
If you no longer want to be contacted by email or telephone you should contact the Electoral Registration Officer who is the Data Controller to unsubscribe. You have the right to opt out of the Open Register, at any time, and we must remove you from this version and tell the statutory recipients in the next update
You have the right to obtain a copy of your personal data
You will be provided with copies of your personal data within the statutory period of one month (or if providing your personal data is a complex matter, this will be done as soon as is reasonable within 3 months).
Your personal data will be provided to you free of charge, however, if your request is deemed manifestly unfounded or excessive, a reasonable fee will be charged. You ask to obtain your personal data by contacting the council’s Data Protection Officer.
You have the right to have information about you corrected
This is known as the right of rectification. You have the right to ask that your personal data is rectified if it is incorrect or incomplete. This will be done within 1 month, or if your request is complex, within 3 months.
The right to have personal data erased
You have a right to have personal data erased in specific circumstances:
- Where the personal data is no longer necessary in relation to the purpose for which it was originally collected/processed;
- If you withdraw your consent;
- When you object to the council’s processing and there is no overriding legitimate interest for continuing the processing;
- If the personal data was unlawfully processed;
- When the personal data has to be erased in order to comply with a legal obligation; or
- When the personal data is processed in relation to the offer of information society services to a child, for example an 'app' developed specifically for
The right to erasure does not apply when maintaining the electoral register since personal information is retained to maintain the register of electors. We cannot comply with a request to remove your information from old/historical registers.
The right to restrict processing
Where it is claimed that data is inaccurate or the right to erasure has been exercised you can require the council to restrict processing until verification checks have been completed.
The right to object
In addition to the right to object to your information being used for direct marketing, you have the right to object to processing based on the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority (including profiling), and processing for purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics.
Rights in relation to automated decision making
You have the right not to be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects on you or affects you in a significant way.
Please contact our Data Protection Officer by email, post or telephone if you have any queries about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you.
The council’s Data Protection Officer (DPO) can be contacted by email: DPO@anglesey.gov.uk or SDD@ynysmon.gov.uk .
We hope that our DPO can resolve any query or concern you may raise about our use of your personal information.
The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred.
The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Email: casework@ico.gsi.gov.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113.
This Privacy Notice was published on 17 April 2018 and updated on 12 August 2020
Version 3
Date 12 August 2020