Electoral Information

What you need to know

You need to be on the electoral register to vote in the UK. You can register as a Service Voter which allows you to be registered at a fixed address in the UK even if you move around. This can be useful if you are based overseas, or think you may be posted overseas in the next year. If you are based in the UK and are unlikely to be posted overseas or change address in the next year you can register as an ordinary voter.

The way you choose to register to vote will depend on your circumstances. You may choose not to register at all. If you are in any doubt about how to register, or need more help, contact your Unit Electoral Registration Officer. They will tell you what is involved and your options as a member of the Armed Forces. The officer may work in your Unit's HR Office and this will be a good place to start. Information is also available via the Electoral Commission Website.

Before proceeding you must know that:

this information will show you how to record your personal Electoral Registration Information in JPA - it is not connected to, and will not initiate the process of actually registering you as a voter
the process is not meant for you to record affiliation to any political party - JPA will not let you do this
firstly you should decide how you wish to register as a voter, if at all

When you have completed and submitted the forms, you should follow the steps below. You should then Add or Update your personal Electoral Registration Information in your JPA record. If you do not have access to JPA and do not envisage having access for some time, you can ask your HR Office (PSF, RAO, UPO) to update the information on your behalf.

Throughout this guidance, the term 'negative preference' means a Voting Intention value of 'Decline to Record Registration Details' or 'Not Registered to Vote', whilst 'positive preference' means 'Registered as a Service, Ordinary or Overseas Voter'.

If you have a Defence Gateway account you can do this from your own personal device on the MyDetails app (part of the My Series).

What you need to do

To record your personal electoral registration information within JPA, you will need to:

logon to JPA and select JPA Self-Service -Employee, Armed Forces

click Electoral Information link under the Extra Information Types section

The Electoral Registration screen will be displayed. To add, update or delete electoral information please follow the instructions below.

Adding new electoral registration information

If you are Adding information for the first time, your record will be empty ('no results found' will be shown in the Status column). The screen will look like this:

Adding New Electoral Registration Information

click Add

The Electoral Information screen will be displayed.

complete the four empty fields by entering your required preferences
click once in the Registration Method field and click the magnifying glass icon

The Search and Select: Registration Method screen will be displayed.

click in the empty field to the right of the 'Registration Method' search box
enter wildcard “%” and click Go
a full list of options available to you will be displayed

click the radio button (in the Select column) against the appropriate option
click Select
the Registration Method field will be populated with your choice

follow the same procedure in completing the remaining three fields
click Apply

The Electoral Information: Extra Information screen will be displayed.

click Next

The Electoral Information: Review screen will be displayed.

click Submit

The Confirmation screen will be displayed.

click Home to return to the Navigator screen

Updating existing electoral information

If you need to update existing electoral information you will need to:

Click Update on the Electoral Information: Extra Information screen

The Electoral Information screen will be displayed showing the information held.

update the relevant field with your required change
use the same procedure as detailed above (use the Magnifying Glass icon) in the 'Adding New Electoral Registration Information' section above
click Apply
click Next
click Submit
click Home to return to the Navigator screen

Deleting existing electoral information

Deleting your existing Electoral Registration will result in 'No Results Found' being returned in the Unit Electoral Registration Report.

Options are available in the Voting Intention field which allow you to 'Decline to Record Registration Details' or show that you are 'Not Registered to Vote'; if appropriate to your circumstances, you should consider using one of these choices rather than leaving your record empty.

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