Date published: 2023-08-08 | Category: Democracy, Elections, Delivering for local residents
Statement from Bath & North East Somerset Council's Electoral Registration Officer, Will Godfrey:
“We have today (August 8) been made aware, alongside the public, that what the Electoral Commission describe as “hostile actors” have been able to access reference copies of the UK’s electoral registers held by the Commission. This includes the name and address of anyone in the UK who was registered to vote between 2014 and 2022 and the names of those registered as overseas voters, but not the details of those registered anonymously.
“Electoral registers are held and maintained by individual Electoral Registration Officers for each local authority area, including Bath & North East Somerset. However, by law, we are required to provide the names and addresses of those on our electoral register to the Electoral Commission at national level, and it is this national system that has been subject to the cyber-attack.
“It is very concerning that insufficient protections were in place at the Electoral Commission to prevent this and we note that this incident is now subject to an investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office. The Electoral Commission have stated that they understand the concern this attack may cause and they have rightly apologised to those affected.
“Maintaining the integrity and accessibility of the democratic process is paramount. Although we constantly review our own systems, we wish to reassure residents that they should have full confidence in our own voter registration processes and we fully encourage people to register to vote to secure their democratic rights. The first stage of this year’s annual electoral registration canvass will take place in September and further information will be made available on this.”
For more information from the Electoral Commission about the cyber-attack including FAQs :https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/privacy-policy/public-notification-cyber-attack-electoral-commission-systems/information-about-cyber-attack
Members of the public and electors can also contact the Commission directly by using this webform and selecting the title ‘Cyber-attack’ to get in touch.
For information on registering to vote in Bath & North East Somerset: https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/registering-vote-and-electoral-register