Vanished Voters - Less than a week to get a vote in West Dorset
Voters who have “vanished” from West Dorset’s electoral register have only until this Friday, 11 March, to register to vote urged local Lib Dem Parliamentary hopeful, Justine McGuinness, today. In parts of West Dorset, including Dorchester, Bridport or Sherborne, nearly one in 10 houses is not listed on the electoral roll. On the streets with the most vanishing voters, in Bridport, the figure rises to one in every four houses.
‘In West Dorset at the next General Election every vote will count. This is one of the most marginal seats in the county,’ said West Dorset’s Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson, Justine McGuinness. ‘Anyone who wants to vote at elections in May needs to register to vote by this Friday, 11 March.’
West Dorset is one of the most marginal seats in the UK. The sitting MP has a ‘waffer-thin’ majority of 1,141. The Lib Dems only need a 1.7% swing to take West Dorset at the next General Election.
West Dorset has had no boundary changes. However, following changes introduced by the Government and the Conservative controlled District Council’s decision to cut the budget for encouraging people to register, the roll has fallen. Over 3,300 addresses occupied by voters on the electoral roll in 2004 do not appear on the 2005 register. Those homes housed over 5,000 voters, who now are unable to vote.
