right to view a public document

[davidmarsden]

my former wife is taking me to court but has given a different address to the one she
cohabits at.i think she is getting legal aid but i cannot.
i went to check the electoral register to find who was registered at what address only to find 34% of people had opted for their names not to be displayed. what is the point of showing a part public document and is there any other way to check dtails of this nature

[Invictas]

If you are meaning finding people on the Electoral Register who have chosen (legally) to withold their adress,then the answer has to be no.
There MAY be other ways to find out where a person is living(or who is living at a certain address),but I don't think you will be able to from the register you are looking at.
BTW what do you hope to achieve by finding out where she is living?

[New Judge]

Copies of the “Full” register (that is the one that includes those people who have asked to have their names excluded from the “edited” register to which you refer) are held at the main council offices for each area and a copy of the register for every area in the UK is held at the British Library in London. These are available for public inspection (under supervision).

I have some experience of dealing with people who, for various reasons, do not want too many people to know their whereabouts. In my experience I have found it extremely unlikely that people who may or may not be co-habiting (and do not want the authorities to find out whether they are or are not) provide their details for the electoral register. Being unable to vote is a small price to pay (especially as many of them have no interest in voting anyway) in order to make it a little more difficult for them to be traced.

[Invictas]

New Judge,
I know that you will be able to give me an opinion on this.
Then just what is the point of the "opt out" if you can see the "full" register at main council offices.
What does opting out achieve.
However,I do agree that people who want to hide will view not being able to vote as a small price to pay for being anonymous.
There must be quite a large unknown and fluid population out there?

[dzug2]

If you don't opt out anyone can buy and keep a copy of the register that includes your name and do whatever they wish with it.

If you opt out the full register is available for viewing only at the Council offices, etc

What you achieve is less junk mail. In theory.

It's not intended to allow you to hide your existence.

[hc4361]

You can see exactly the same information as you could before the internet, by going to the council office and searching the register.
Some of us don't want the council selling our information to all and sundry, nor do we want every Tom, Dick and Harry with an idle few minutes to access our details online.

[New Judge]

Yes, dzug and hc are quite correct. The edited register is sold by the authorities to virtually anybody that wants it. In my view the Data Protection Act is not being applied properly as organisations holding such data are only supposed to use it for the purposes for which it was supplied. People providing their details in order to be able to vote do not necessarily want their details sold on to junk mail organisations.

[davidmarsden]

i did go to the main civic office but again about 30-35% of names are missing.
i only wanted a level playing field when i go to court. it does not seem fair that my ex wife can say she is living elsewhere as a single person and gets full legal aid(case costs are supposed to be £4000-£5000) and i have to pay myself. i also thought it was illegal not to be declared on the electoral register

[davidmarsden]

i should have explained that the short version of the electoral register at a library only covers districts near that library but the civic office/town hall covers all districts.
if you see the main register you can see nearly every street has some house numbers missing where the occupant/s have chosen not to be on the register but have registered to vote. i was told the only full search can be made by police/financial institutions and credit reference agencies

[Jemisa]

I thought one got Legal Aid only if you can prove you cannot afford to pay legal costs.
Whats it got to do with where you live or whether you're on the Electorial Role.

I seem to remember (in the Thatcher years) people opted out of the Electorial Roll hoping they wouldn't be traced for not paying their council tax.

jem

[mazamoo]

we opt out but are still able to vote and have done so for years.