Can you be fined £1000 for not registering to vote?

[WildeWoman]

Received a flyer type thing in the door stating that someone called to the house but we were not in and they will call back, but we have to fill in some household form and if we don't, we can be fined £1000. It looks official.
Is this a new thing? Is it like a census or something?
There's no household form here that I can see (shared accomodation).
I'm not English.
AIBU to think that this is bizarre?

It's got a slogan/logo on the top with 'your vote counts'. Then it mentions the council we're in.

We had someone knocking on our door wanting to know why our 17 year old hadn't registered. They said a fine would be imposed if he didn't.

AFAIK 17 year olds should be registered so that they can vote once they turn 18.

Yes, you can be fined 1000 and it's at the discretion of the individual council whether they do so.

"Not registering can also harm your credit score, ability to get a mortgage, loan, mobile phone contract and other credit facilities.

WTF? A bit heavy handed eh?"

There's nothing heavy handed about that because it isn't a punishment from the government for not registering - They are just making you aware that the private companies who provide mobile phones, loans etc may regard you as a higher risk if you are not on the register and either refuse you credit or offer you less favourable terms because of your credit rating.

How does this work in the UK, where there is no compulsory residential registration?

Where does the fine money go.

With a lot of councils have huge budget cuts IF it goes into their budget £1000 will be helpful to meet some services facing the axe.

Can someone post the link to register online? I threw my letter in the bin

Im not registered. They phoned me last year to say it would affect my credit rating (meh). I said ok but they didnt fine me though. Maybe they have changed the rules since.

lmgtfy.com/?q=register+to+vote+online

We're not even voting for another 4 years ish are we? I'm 31, have never registered to vote and have never been fined. I do plan to vote in the next election though. Following the shocking result of the last one

There are local elections nearly every year everywhere and there is likely to be a referendum on the EU before the end of the year.

Theoretically yes you can be fined, and this has long been the case. In practice, the fine is basically never pursued, and there a number of steps that the Electoral Registration Officer is supposed to take first, up to and including a home visit.

don't bother, then. Or if you do, don't vote.

you therefore lose input into local elections, whether we stay in the EU and the next general election in 4 years.

fine - but don't whinge about any of the results.

if you have security concerns, you can be hidden from the main register. And EVERYONE should opt out of the elected register to avoid having your details splattered everywhere and endless harrassment by the peddlers of things you don't want.

I do no take kindly to threats of fines and I have told them that I am exercising my Democratic right to NOT vote. I am never going to be threatened to do something. It even says if you fill it out incorrectly you will be fined 80 quid as well, even if you make a mistake. So you are damned if you don't and damned if you don't. I may have signed it if I wasn't threatened to.What are they going to do? Put handcuffs of me and drag me to the polling station? I told them to piss off and if I have to pay a fine, then I will go to court of human rights, because Nobody in the civilised world should be the forced to vote by threats against their personIt's already filled out with my name and address anyway, so they don't need my details as they filled it out themselves! !ts coercion of money from people