United Kingdom: Number of voters on electoral register drops by 920,000 | The Guardian
Almost a million voters – many of them young people and students – have disappeared from the electoral register in the past year, according to figures from the Electoral Commission. The register has fallen by 920,000 in the 10 months to December 2014, with some areas – including Cardiff and Oxford which both have large student populations – seeing falls of more than 10%. It amounts to a 2% reduction in the voter register overall. Critics have blamed the fall on a change in the way people are allowed to register. Previously, voters were able to apply by household but, because of concerns about voter fraud, the rules were changed and everyone now has to register individually. The quality of the electoral register as it is transferred from household to individual registration is so bad that the commission may warn against completing the transition to individual voter registration for all elections. A total of 117 local authorities reported falls between 3% and 12%.