Electoral Candidates and Agents Privacy Notice

For candidates, we collect basic information, such as name, address, qualification to stand for election, date of birth, signature, party affiliation and details of spending. We also collect contact information, such as telephone number and email address, although provision of this is optional.

For agents, we collect basic information, such as name, home and office address, signature and party affiliation. We also collect contact information, such as telephone number and email address, although provision of this is optional.

For assentors (electors who sign a candidate’s nomination paper), we collect basic information, such as name, elector number, signature and party affiliation.

The Returning Officer is legally obliged to collect this data as part of the process for nominations of candidates and appointment of agents. The data is then used on statutory notices and on ballot papers.

Candidates can select to withhold their home address from statutory notices and ballot papers. A home address form is used in these cases.

Election spending returns are also required by law, and are shared with the Electoral Commission and are open to public inspection.

Where contact details are provided, these are only used by the Returning Officer and their staff for communication with you about the election.

Details of electoral candidates, agents and assentors to candidate nominations are published on the Council website, in the Civic Office and are provided to all election agents.

The Returning Officer may share this data with staff within the Council who support the delivery of elections, with the Electoral Commission and with contractors, such as the print firm contracted to produce the ballot papers and the postal vote packs.

The Electoral Registration Officer & Returning Officer need to process your personal data in order to prepare for and conduct elections. Your details will be kept and updated in accordance with our legal obligations and in line with statutory retention periods and the periods in our retention schedule.

We are required by law to retain candidate nomination papers for candidates standing in elections for no longer than 12 months after the election, following which the documents are securely destroyed.

Home address forms provided by candidates standing in elections are retained for a period of 21 days after the election, following which they are securely disposed of. However, if an election petition relating to the election is presented within the 21 calendar days, the home address forms must be kept securely until the conclusion of the petition proceedings (including any appeal from such proceedings). They must then be securely destroyed on the next working day following the conclusion of the proceedings or appeal.

We are required by law to retain candidate election expenses documents for a period of no more than 2 years from the date on which the expenses are received. At the end of the two year period, the respective candidate can request the return of the expenses documents. Otherwise the expenses documents will be securely disposed of.

The RO and ERO are legally obliged to process your data, under legislation and regulations governing the running of elections, in order to prepare for and conduct these. We collect, use and process this personal information on the basis of these legal obligations (Article 6(1)(c) of the General Data Protection Regulation) and / or public task functions (Article 6(1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation).

The law gives you specific rights over your information. These rights are:

• to be informed of our use of information about you;
• of access to information about you;
• rectify information about you that is inaccurate;
• to restrict how we use information about you;
• to object to how we use information about you;
• to complain about anything the ERO, RO or Council does with your information (please see the ‘Complaints’ section below).

Some of the rights listed above apply only in certain situations, and some have a limited effect.

The right to be forgotten does not apply when processing is required for the performance of a public task (such as the maintaining of electoral registers) or where it is necessary for archival in the public interest.

The ERO and RO nominate the City of Doncaster Council as their DPO. The Council’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted by email at information.governance@doncaster.gov.uk 

If you are unhappy with the way in which your information has been handled you should contact the Council’s Data Protection Officer so that we can try and put things right. Alternatively, and if we have been unable to resolve your complaint, you can also refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO is the UK's independent body set up to uphold information rights, and they can investigate and adjudicate on any data protection related concerns you raise with them. They can be contacted via the methods below:

Website: www.ico.org.uk 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Post: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.