MNHQ here: petition to make it safer for victims of domestic abuse to register to vote

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello

We've been contacted by someone who works for Nottingham Rape Crisis who wanted us to draw your attention to a petition. It's regarding the rules for getting on the electoral roll when leaving a domestic violence refuge for a new home.

As lots of you will know, when you register to vote you can opt out of having your details - your name and your full address - included on the 'edited' register (which gets sold to lots of commercial companies).

But for people at risk of violence or abuse, this may not be safeguard enough. The 'full' register, containing full names and addresses, is still made available to lots of agencies (see here for more details), and the argument runs that this poses too great a risk for people fleeing potentially life-threatening situations.

For those leaving shelters who wish to take up their democratic right to vote, the safest option is to go on the electoral register anonymously, meaning that your name is not included even on the 'full' register. At the moment the process for doing this is quite complex, meaning that many in this situation end up not registering at all.

The petition is asking the government to automatically offer anonymous registration to people leaving shelters.

We thought some of you might like to see this and offer your support - or indeed your thoughts, as ever.

The petition link is here.

Thanks
MNHQ

Signed. Good work! Interesting points made too regarding others who would benefit from anonymity.

Signed and shared.

Signed.

Signed. It's terrifying that for fee this sensitive information can be bought. Is there no lows people will go to.
Carrie. That woman should have been sacked and prosecuted. Oops sorry after putting someones life in danger. .
Is she in a happy marriage is she.

It sounds like that option should be made available to everybody tbh, not just people leaving shelters.

Yes it should. The point is that it should be factored in and offered automatically to people leaving shelters.

So sad to see how few people have signed compared to other petitions MN have posted.

There shouldn't be the need for this petition

Signed - good luck

I am having this very issue, I left a refuge not long ago and recently had a woman come to my door to railroad me into being on the register.

Firstly this was terrifying because I didn't know who the hell she was and she was eye rolling and getting pissed off when I asked for id then called her office to verify.

I told her I wouldn't put my name down unless she could personally ensure my safety, which she couldn't, then told me I could be taken to court and my name would be all over the papers anyway.

I reported her comments and have yet to hear back (aside from an email telling me I have to wait 20 days for an investigation).

This woman never told me I could register to vote and not disclose my name, despite me telling her my circumstances.

I know a few women from the refuge also haven't registered to vote for the same reasons as me.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

That's awful, Elsa.

Yup, done.

Signed and the petition link shared on facebook.

Bumping this to see if we can get a few more signatures.

Elsa, that is awful. I am so sorry you went through that.

Please, everyone, read Elsa's post, then sign the petition.

Just giving this a bump, hoping to get some more signatures.

Signed and bumping

Done.

Signed

Hopeful bump

Signed

Signed and shared on Facebook. I cannot believe this is not a viable option in this day and age.