Make registering to vote your New Year’s resolution

With the festive period now over, many people will be looking to set New Year’s resolutions that will make a positive difference to their lives in 2016. However, as well-intended as these self-promises may be, only a small percentage of people will achieve their goals. In fact, only 12% of people who set resolutions last year successfully kept them.

The most common reasons for not achieving resolutions is lack of commitment and loss of motivation, but Camden Council has a solution: a New Year’s resolution you can achieve in just three minutes. Although not a typical resolution, putting registering to vote on your list this year will have more benefits than simply giving you a sense of achievement.

Councillor Sarah Hayward, Leader of Camden Council, said: “Registering to vote is an important part of democracy. It means you will be ready to have say on who represents you at all levels of government. With the London Mayoral and London Assembly elections coming up in May, now is a good time to make sure you’re on the electoral register and I’d encourage all Camden residents to spend 3 minutes registering or updating their details.”

The Council is also using innovative methods to get people registered including advertising on till receipts at local shops, placing large posters at bus stops and utilising social media to spread the word. 

Everyone eligible to vote needs to register themselves, including teenagers who are 17 now but will be 18 by 5 May 2016. It’s quick and easy to do at gov.uk/register-to-vote.

Elections can be called at short notice and with an EU referendum planned before the end of 2017, Camden residents need to make sure they’re ready to have their say.

People who have moved house recently and those who rent privately are far less likely to be registered than those that have lived at the same address for a long time. However many of these people may be unaware that they are not on the register. In fact, 44% of people who aren’t registered to vote incorrectly believe that they are.

For questions about registering to vote, contact Camden’s elections team at electoral.services@camden.gov.uk or by phone on 0207 974 6000.