Help keep electoral register up to date with annual canvass

Wokingham Borough Council is encouraging residents to check their electoral registration details are correct as part of the annual canvass.

The annual canvass is an important yearly process which allows the council to identify anyone who may be at risk of losing their voice at future elections and to encourage them to register to vote before it is too late. 

This year’s canvass runs from July to November. Some residents will be contacted by post, while others will receive an email. Correspondence will tell you whether you need to respond and not all residents will be contacted when the first letters and emails are sent out. Every household is urged to check that the information for their property is correct.

Emails and paper forms will start to be sent out in July, with further correspondence planned for August. Door-to-door canvassers will then be visiting households that have not responded in September.

 Register to Vote

Correspondence from Wokingham Borough Council

Andrew Moulton, Electoral Registration Officer at Wokingham Borough Council said: "Keep an eye out for important updates from Wokingham Borough Council. The annual canvass is our way of making sure that the information on the electoral register for every address is accurate and up to date. To make sure you don’t lose your say at upcoming elections, simply follow the instructions sent to you.

“If you’re not currently registered, your name will not appear in the messages we send. If you want to register, the easiest way is online at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.”

People who have recently moved home  in particular are urged to check their details. Electoral Commission research has found that recent home movers are less likely to be registered than those who have lived at the same address for a long time. In Great Britain, 92 per cent of those who have lived in their home for 16 years will be registered, compared with 36 per cent of people who have lived at an address for less than a year. 

How the canvass process will work

The council will begin to send out correspondence via email and in the post to residents, with a response from just one person in the household required. Reminder emails and letters will then be sent to those who have not responded.

Forms sent by post will be addressed to ‘The Resident’ but anyone in the household can respond. Canvass correspondence sent via email will be sent from  Wokingham.borough.council.electoral.services@notifications.service.gov.uk and will contain the council’s official branding.

If you need to respond, use one of the methods offered in the letter, as pre-paid envelopes are no longer automatically enclosed. Please include your email address in your response to help us reduce our printing and postal costs, as this exercise must be carried out each year

The easiest way to respond is on the Household Response website, but you will need to use the security codes provided on the form to do so.

Postal vote refresh

Some residents will have recently received a letter or email asking them to reapply for their postal vote. Even if you have recently reapplied for your postal vote, you will still need to respond to the annual canvass. 

If your annual canvass form says that your postal vote is expiring on 31 January 2026, you will need to make a new application for a postal vote here. If you are unsure of what action to take, please visit Postal Vote Refresh Updates. 

Once your household information has been updated, any new or additional residents over the age of 16 must register to vote individually here. Responding to the canvass does not mean you are registered to vote and you are not automatically registered, even if you pay the council tax for your home.

More information is available online on the Wokingham Borough Council website. Residents with questions about their registration status can contact the council’s Electoral Services Team at electoralservices@wokingham.gov.uk or call (0118) 974 6000.