Annual canvass

Our yearly review of the electoral register.

We update the electoral register every year to confirm who is eligible to vote. We do this through the annual canvass.

We contact all households in the city by letter or email. We start sending letters and emails from the end of July, but you might not hear from us until November. 

You need to let us know about any new residents at your property. In addition to responding to the annual canvass, new residents will also need to register to vote, so we can add them to the register. 

You can register to vote online, or use the forms that we'll send out to you once you’ve responded to the annual canvass.

How we contact you

We send 4 different types of canvass correspondence:

Canvass Communication B (CCB) form

We send CCB forms to some properties in late July. You must respond to this form regardless of whether the details listed are correct.

Canvass form

We send Canvass forms in late August to properties that do not respond to the CCB form. You must respond to this form regardless of whether the details listed are correct. 

Canvass Communication A (CCA) form

We send CCA forms in October or November to properties that did not receive a CCB or Canvass form. You only need to respond to this form if any of the details are incorrect.

Email

We send emails throughout the canvass period (July to November) to people we hold email addresses for. You need to respond to these emails. If we don't get a response, we will send you reminder emails and paper forms.

We'll send our emails from 'brighton.hove.electoral.services@notifications.service.gov.uk'.

The email will direct you to respond on our household response website.

How to respond

Online

Respond to us online if you can. This is the quickest and easiest way to respond and saves the council money that we can use on other vital services. You will need to enter the security codes that we give you on your letter or email.

Respond to the annual canvass online.

By phone

If there are no changes to update us on, you can respond by phone. Call 0800 197 9871 and enter the security codes on your letter or email when prompted.

By post

You can make the required changes on your form and post it back to us. Our address is Electoral Services, Hove Town Hall, Norton Road, BN3 3BQ.

If you don’t respond

Every household is legally required to check that the electoral register details we hold are correct and let us know if there are any changes.

Properties that have only received a CCA form only need to respond if there are changes to their household’s electoral register details. 

If we don't receive a response from you, we'll make every attempt to contact you to remind you to respond. These reminders may come by post, email or as a visit to your property. If necessary, we will keep contacting households until we publish the revised register.

If you don’t respond, we may remove your name from the electoral register. This will mean you cannot vote, and it will affect your credit score. You may also be liable for a fine.