Evaluation: confirming electors through data matching
Findings from the data matching pilot for Individual Electoral Registration (IER).
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The introduction of Individual Electoral Registration (IER) in Great Britain will modernise the way people register to vote, help to tackle electoral fraud and improve confidence in the electoral register. Any new applications made after the transition has begun must include the applicant’s date of birth (DoB) and National Insurance Number (NINo) so that their identity can be verified, increasing the integrity of the register.
The first major step in transition will be the matching of existing electoral registers against records held by the Department for Work and Pensions – ‘confirmation’. This report sets out the findings from a complete national test carried out in the summer of 2013 of the process which will automatically confirm the majority of electors on the register during the transition to IER in 2014.
The test (the confirmation dry run) involved the matching of all 380 registers, with around 46 million people, against Department for Work and Pensions data, using the process, IT and people who will do it for real next year.
The results are very positive: 78% of electors matched, higher than achieved by our previous pilots in 2012 and 2011, and local data matching has the potential to add an average of 7%. This means that most electors will not need to apply under IER unless their circumstances change (eg they move house), and that the risk of a drop in the register during transition is therefore significantly reduced.
Last updated 21 October 2014 + show all updates
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Added a link to the interim evaluation on using data matching to confirm electors.
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First published.