Anonymous Electors

Anonymous electors who want to vote in person at a polling station will need to apply for an Anonymous Elector’s Document. This document will be the only form of identification which an anonymous elector can use in the polling station.

This is because an anonymous elector’s name does not appear on the register, and therefore no other types of identification would prove their identity.

The Anonymous Elector’s Document will contain:

• the elector’s elector number
• a photograph of the elector
• the date of issue of the certificate
• the appropriate identifier
• the words “issued by the Electoral Registration Officer appointed by Waverley Borough Council"
• the recommended renewal date
• one or more security features, such as a watermark, as recommended by the Home Secretary.

The appropriate identifier is made up of 20 numbers of letters and is allocated to each Anonymous Elector’s Document.

Any anonymous elector who wishes to vote in a polling station in relevant elections or referendums, or sign a signing sheet at a signing place for an election petition, will need to produce an Anonymous Elector’s Document as their photographic ID.

The ERO must notify all existing qualifying anonymous electors on their register of the new requirements to apply for and hold an Anonymous Elector’s Document if they want to vote in person.

Any anonymous elector who is registered to vote by post will not need to apply for an Anonymous Elector’s Document, unless they cancel their postal vote and wish to vote in person.

You can only make an application for an Anonymous Elector’s Document using a paper application form.

If you contact us to request a paper form before you apply, we will check that you are either already a registered anonymous elector, or have made a recent application to register, before we can provide a paper application form.

Any application for an Anonymous Elector’s Document must contain:

• your full name
• the address at which you are registered to vote (or have applied to be registered at), or in the case of special category electors, your present, correspondence or BFPO number address
• your date of birth
• your National Insurance Number
• a statement as to whether you consider it necessary to collect the Anonymous Elector’s Document in person instead of it being delivered to the relevant delivery address, and the reason for collection
• a declaration that you have, or are applying to have, an anonymous entry on the register
• a declaration that the contents of the application are true, either by signature or some mark that shows that you have made the declaration
• the date of the application.

Any application must also contain a suitable photograph of you, meeting the relevant size and resolution requirements.

Once your application has been successfully processed, the Anonymous Elector’s Document will be produced by the ERO and posted to you, in a plain envelope.

If you consider it necessary to collect your Anonymous Elector’s Document, you may indicate this on your application. If the ERO determines that collection is necessary based on the reason provided, you will be contacted to arrange collection.

Ahead of a specific election, referendum, or recall petition, the deadline for applying will be 5pm, six working days before either the date of the poll or the last day for signing the petition.

If you apply for an Anonymous Elector’s Document after this date, you will not be able to use your Anonymous Elector’s Document at that poll or recall petition.

If you have lost or damaged your Anonymous Elector’s Document after 5pm, six working days before polling day or the last day for signing a recall petition, but before 5pm on polling day or 5pm on the last day for signing a recall petition, you may apply for a replacement Anonymous Elector’s Document.

In these circumstances the ERO will make the replacement Anonymous Elector’s Document available for collection and you must collect it yourself.

You will need to apply for a new Anonymous Elector’s Document each year when your anonymous registration expires and you renew it.

If you have an Anonymous Elector Document and your elector number changes during the validity period, for example when the electoral register is republished in December, the ERO will issue your Anonymous Elector’s Document bearing the correct elector number.