Electoral services privacy notice
Read this alongside the Trafford Council privacy notice for information that applies to all services.
This page explains how we collect and use personal information in Electoral Services.
What information we collect
We may collect:
- Name, address and contact details
- Date of birth and National Insurance number
- Your electoral registration status and voting history (whether you voted, not how you voted)
- Scanned application forms, correspondence and other supporting documents
- Details of any disabilities if you request specific voting arrangements
- Information about nationality and eligibility to vote
- Signatures for postal voting
Why we collect your information
We use your information to:
- Maintain the electoral register
- Enable eligible people to vote in elections and referendums
- Process applications for voter registration, postal and proxy voting
- Contact you about elections and referendums
- Meet our legal duties under the Representation of the People Act 1983 and related legislation
Our lawful basis
The main legal bases we use are:
- Public task – to carry out our duties under electoral law
- Legal obligation – to comply with statutory requirements under the Representation of the People Act 1983 and associated regulations
- For special category data (e.g., disability information for voting arrangements), we rely on:
- Substantial public interest – under UK GDPR Article 9(2)(g) and Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018
Who we share your information with
We are required by law to share parts of the electoral register with:
- Candidates, agents and political parties
- The Electoral Commission
- Credit reference agencies (for credit checking purposes)
- Other local authorities
- The Jury Central Summoning Bureau
- Police and other law enforcement agencies where necessary
There are two versions of the electoral register:
- Full register – used for elections, law enforcement, and jury summoning
- Open register – can be bought by any person, company or organisation (you can opt out of this)
How long we keep your information
We keep electoral registration data in line with statutory retention schedules set out in electoral law.
This includes keeping some records for the duration of your registration and others for specific election cycles.
Automated decision‑making
Electoral Services do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing.
Contact us
If you have questions about how we use your information in Electoral Services, see the Contact us section in the primary privacy notice.