Electoral Services Privacy Notice

We keep records about potential and actual electors, voters, citizens, candidates and their agents, staff employed at an election and the people we need to pay. These may be written down or kept on a computer. These records may include:

• basic details about you – for example, your name, address, date of birth and nationality
• unique identifiers (such as your National Insurance number)
• scanned application forms & dates of any letters of correspondence
• notes about any relevant circumstances that you have told us
• your previous or any redirected address
• the other occupants in your home
• If you are over 76 or under 18
• whether you have chosen to opt out of the Open version of the Register of Electors

The Electoral Registration Officer is required to keep a record of your personal data in order to comply with the Representation of the People Act 1983 and associated regulations. We will not give personal information about you to anyone else or another organisation unless we have to by law. We will, based on your nationality, include your name on the Electoral Register so that you are able to vote. It is important that our 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.

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.

• With our printers and software providers, to compile and manage the register, to print your poll cards, postal vote packs and other electoral material
• With registered political parties, elected representatives, candidates, agents and other permitted participants who can use it for electoral purposes only
• With Credit reference agencies, the British Library, UK Statistics Authority, the Electoral Commission and other statutory recipients of the Electoral Register
• Details of whether you have voted (but not how you have voted) with 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 Initiative.  You can find more information about the NFI at: http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/the-council-democracy/the-national-fraud-initiative-and-data-matching

We are required by law to report certain information to appropriate authorities – for example:

• where a formal court order has been issued
• 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 service

The process of checking citizens’ personal identifiers to ensure eligibility for inclusion in the Electoral Register is overseen by the Cabinet Office via the IER Digital Service.

The Department for Work and Pensions use registration data to verify the identity of new applicants, and the Cabinet Office will inform local authorities when people have moved out of their area.

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

If your details are in the Open version of the Electoral Register, your name and address can be sold to third parties who may use it for any purpose. The law requires that we make the Open Register available for sale.

You can opt out of this version of the register at any time by emailing electoralservices@doncaster.gov.uk

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 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.

Data Protection legislation allows you to find out what information is held about you, on paper and computer records. This is known as ‘right of subject access’ and applies to your Electoral Services records along with all other personal records.

If you wish to see a copy of your records you should contact the Information Governance Team (details below). In certain circumstances access to your records may be limited, for example, if the records you have asked for contain information relating to another person.

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 Council is required by law to have a DPO. The DPO has a number of duties, including:

• monitoring the Council’s compliance with data protection law;
• providing expert advice and guidance on data protection;
• acting as the point of contact for data subjects; and,
• co-operating and consulting with the Information Commissioner’s Office (see ‘Complaints’ below).

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