WEST DORSET: A total of 2,169 residents in West Dorset have registered their intention to vote in local and national elections on a new online registration system.

The platform was launched by the current government and one million people registering their application to vote since it went live in June.

The figure for West Dorset, provided by the district council, is accurate up to the start of September according to a spokesman. Across West Dorset, 80,091 people are registered to vote. On June 10 the government launched online electoral registration, saying the system made registering to vote quicker, simpler and more secure. The launch formed part of the move to Individual Electoral Registration (IER) which has replaced the ‘head of household’ system.

In one of the biggest recent changes to electoral registration, you can now register in three minutes by providing a name, address, date of birth and national insurance number, according to a release from the Cabinet Office in London. Nationwide 90 per cent of those who have signed up using the online system have given positive feedback.

The online registration service is also compatible on smartphones and tablets. To date around a third of people have accessed the service through a smartphone or tablet.

Minister for the Constitution Sam Gyimah said: “We designed this new online service with the user in mind, and it’s great that such a large number of people across the UK are using the service and responding well to our improvements. We’ve made registering to vote easier than ever before and it’s really positive that nearly a quarter of those registering in the last month have been under the age of 35.

“But we know there’s more to do to maximise registration rates, so we will continue our efforts to ensure that everybody has their say in the how the country is run.”

The announcement comes on the back of the Electoral Commission’s national awareness campaign launched to raise awareness of Individual Electoral Registration.