The open register is an extract of the electoral register, but is not used for elections. It can be bought by any person, company or organisation and is often used by businesses and charities to confirm name and address details. The personal data in the register must always be processed in line with data-protection legislation.

Your name and address will be included in the open register unless you ask for them to be removed. You must email optout@medway.gov.uk.

Removing your details from the open register would not affect your right to vote.

Who uses the open register

Users of the open register include:

  • businesses checking the identity and address details of people who apply for their services such as insurance, goods hire and property rental, as well as when they shop online
  • businesses selling age-restricted goods or services, such as alcohol and gambling online, to meet the rules on verifying the age of their customers
  • charities and voluntary agencies, for example, to maintain contact information for those who have chosen to donate bone marrow and to help people separated by adoption to find each other
  • charities, to help with fundraising and contacting people who have made donations
  • debt-collection agencies when tracing people who have changed address without telling their creditors
  • direct-marketing firms when maintaining their mailing lists
  • landlords and letting agents when checking the identity of potential tenants
  • local councils when identifying and contacting residents
  • online directory firms to help users of the websites find people, such as when reuniting friends and families
  • organisations tracing and identifying beneficiaries of wills, pensions and insurance policies
  • private-sector firms to verify details of job applicants.

No telephone numbers or email addresses provided to the Electoral Services team are shown in the register or passed on to any organisations or individuals who receive copies of the register.

Opt out of the open register

Your open register preference is initially made when you register to vote, but if you would like to opt out of the open register, so that your personal details are no longer included, you must email optout@medway.gov.uk.

You cannot do this on behalf of another person. Each individual who is registered to vote at a property must send their own request if they want to do this.

Buy the open register

The open register is available as a PDF document or CSV file which can be opened with Microsoft Excel and is not available in any other formats. The prices are set by legislation and are the same across the whole of the UK, based on the number of electors.

A copy of the open register is:

  • £10 plus £5 per 1,000 names (or part names) for a PDF copy
  • £20 plus £1.50 per 1,000 names (or part names) for a CSV file copy.

You can choose to buy information in the register for one ward or for the whole of Medway, which covers 3 parliamentary constituencies and 22 wards.

Request a call back to buy the open register and tell us if you want the whole register or a particular ward.