What are marked registers?
Marked registers are the list of people who voted in a given election. As a political party, we’re entitled to this list of people who voted, and we have 12 months following polling day to acquire these from our Councils. Unlike the electoral roll, however, we have to pay for this data. Whilst this might seem like an expense that your local party could do without, marked register data is invaluable in ensuring that we campaign smarter in future elections.
Why are they so important?
Acquiring marked registers and inputting them into Connect means that we are able to better target those people who vote more consistently in elections. For example, if we have limited resources, we might choose to only canvass those people who voted in the last local elections in a council by-election campaign. It’s safe to assume that these people are more likely to go out and vote, than say people who haven’t voted in the past two election cycles. Alternatively, we might choose to send people who voted in the most recent local election additional direct mail – in addition to any literature which is already going out across the ward – because we know these people are the most reliable to go out and vote.
Moreover, if we’ve bought and inputted marked registers over multiple cycles, we can start to build a picture of who are most reliable voters in elections are by segmenting our lists by those people who’ve voted most often.
In Wales, because our wards are smaller than in many English authorities, the marked register data makes our campaigning much more focused. During the 2022 local elections in my ward (Llanidloes), it enabled us to target paid direct mail only to those voters who regularly turn out in elections.
How can I get them?
In order to be able to request your marked registers from the Council, you’ll need to be a Designated Nominating Officer (DNO). If you’re not a DNO, you can find out who your Regional DNO is by contacting me.
If you are already a DNO, you can request the marked registers by contacting your local Electoral Services department at the Council. After you make arrangements to transfer funds, the Council will hand over the marked registers.
NB – Some councils send their marked registers in paper form if we don’t ask otherwise. It’s always best to ask for them in a PDF/data format, as it is cheaper and makes entering the data into Connect a far easier task.
Can I get help with inputting them into Connect?
ALDC can input your marked registers into Connect for a fee with our Registr service – £100 plus £2 for every 1000 electors. This might save valuable person hours. However, entering marked register data onto Connect can be a useful task to complete during the Christmas period as little campaigning takes place, and there are limited daylight hours.
Find out more about ALDC’s marked register service here.
Contact me on glyn.preston@aldc.org or on 07398 951409 for any advice, support, or training concerning marked registers.