By law, we carry out an annual canvass of the borough every year between July and December.
We do this to find out who needs to be added or removed from the electoral register (for example, people who no longer live there or new occupants who need to register).
It is a legal requirement to provide the information requested. Please make sure that you respond to the email or paper form as soon as you can.
Respond
The easiest way to respond is online:
Respond to the annual canvass online
You will need your two-part security code from your form or email.
If there are no changes to the details for your household, you can also respond by calling freephone 0808 284 1511 (24 hours).
If you are unable to respond online or by phone, you can complete the paper form and post it to Electoral Services, Elmbridge Borough Council, Civic Centre, High Street, Esher, Surrey, KT10 9SD.
Annual canvass process
The canvass process starts with a data matching exercise between national data, held by the Department for Work and Pensions, and some local data.
Where the data matches
If your data matches and you have a valid email address, we will send you an email in mid-August that requires a response.
Emails will be sent from elmbridge.electoral@notifications.service.gov.uk. If you want to check that the email is genuine, email contactus@elmbridge.gov.uk.
If your data matches and you don’t have a valid email address or you don’t reply to the email, we will send you a paper form in October. You only need to respond to this form if there are changes to be made.
No further communication will be sent after this.
Where there is no match or partial match
If there isn’t a data match, we will send you a paper form at the beginning of September. You must respond to this whether there are changes to make or not. If relevant, you will also need to tell us why a property has no eligible voters, for example, because the property is empty or is a second home.
You may receive a reminder by email if we do not receive a response.
Follow up visits
If you do not respond to the canvass form or an 'Invitation to Register', we have to send reminders and make follow up visits to your property. These visits take place between 5 November and 9 December.
Council staff will be wearing council photo identification. To further check their identity, please contact customer services on 01372 474474.
Electoral register
A revised version of the electoral register will be published on 1 February 2025.
Registering to vote
A canvass response is not a registration form. Anyone added to these details on the canvass response will also need to register to vote.
You are not automatically registered just because you pay Council Tax.
Your personal information
For information on how we use your data, please read our privacy notice.