Electoral register...

UK Electoral Register: The electoral register or electoral roll is a listing of everyone who is registered for voting in a particular area. The process of voting is facilitated by the register and helps in preventing fraud. It can also be used for selecting people for jury duty. The electoral register is used in several democracies including Australia, UK and New Zealand. The obligation and right to register for voting in the United Kingdom extends to all British citizens residing in the Britain, Republic of Ireland, the European Union and the Commonwealth. British citizens who live overseas can register for up to 15 years after their last registration at an address in the United Kingdom or Crown dependencies. People can get registered before their 18th birthday as long as they reach that age before the next revision of the register.

There is a register compiled for every polling district in the UK, which are held in the respective electoral registration offices. In Wales and England, these offices are located at the local council at the borough, district or unitary level. In Scotland the offices are sometimes located with councils, but can also be separate. For instance, Northern Ireland has a central electoral office run by the government.

The register at present is compiled by sending an annual canvass form to every house, and a fine of 1000 pounds can be imposed if a person fails to complete the form or gives wrong information. Up to 2001, the revised register was brought out on 15 February every year, based on a qualifying date of 10 October, and a draft register that was published on 28th November in the previous year. Due to the Representation of the People Act 2000, the register is now published on 1st December every year. There are two formats of the register. The full version of the register is available for supervised inspection by anyone legally. The edited version, with the names of those who have chosen to opt out omitted can be bought by anyone for any purpose.

Online Electoral Register: There has been just one type of electoral register from 1918 onwards. Anyone with a franchise can cast their votes in national and local elections. Previously, there were several registers. There are several online electoral registers and phone directories available on the Internet. These sites allow you to search for people in the UK who are listed on the electoral register or in the phone directory. Online electoral registers are ideal if you are looking for your relatives in a particular area with some unusual surname.

Birmingham Electoral Register: Birmingham, which was originally in Warwickshire, has expanded considerably since 1832. There are websites that have records for most suburbs that are now in Birmingham. In 1891, Harborne, Saltley and Balsall Heath became part of Birmingham. Acocks Green, Yardley, Hall Green, Sparkhill, Moseley, Bournville, King's Norton, Kings Heath, Selly Oak, and Northfield, went from Worcestershire to Warwickshire in 1911, and became part of Birmingham. Perry Barr, Shard End and Sheldon joined Birmingham later. The electoral registers for Sutton Coldfield, prior to 1974, when Sutton became part of Birmingham, are in Sutton Coldfield Library.

You can find a lot of information on the records of everyone registered to vote, in any year or place, on the Internet or library. People who failed to register have not been included, even though they might have been entitled to vote. Various places like libraries have the lists for Birmingham from 1832 onwards. Because of issues related to data protection, there is no access to electoral registers produced after February 2001 in the libraries of Birmingham. You can consult the current register through the Elections Office, and for the Birmingham electoral registers that were produced between 2002 and the current register, you will have to contact the British Library.