Introduction Electoral Registration Section 19 - Declaration of local connection
45.Section 19 amends section 7B of the 1983 Act in relation to the registration of local government electors in Wales.
46.Section 7B sets out the circumstances under which a person is permitted to make a declaration of local connection. The effect of a declaration of a local connection is that declarants can be registered by reference to an address which may not be the one at which they normally reside.
47.The amendments made by section 19(2) allow persons under the age of 18 to make a declaration of local connection where they are being looked after by a local authority or are being kept in any secure accommodation specified in regulations made by the Welsh Ministers in circumstances also specified in the regulations.
48.Section 19(3) amends sub section (3)(e) of the 1983 Act to require any declarations of local connection to state whether a person is a qualifying foreign citizen.
49.Section 19(4) amends section 7B(4) of the 1983 Act and sets out the address requirements for a person making a declaration of local connection under section 7B(2A). The address must be an address in Wales at which the person has previously been resident or be an address of a county or county borough council in Wales in which the person has previously been resident.
50.Section 19(5) clarifies that declarations made by virtue of section 7B(2A) of the 1983 Act will not have effect at UK parliamentary elections. It also clarifies that any other declarations of local connection made by a qualifying foreign citizen or persons under the age of 17 who are not entitled to be registered in the register of parliamentary elections will not have effect at UK parliamentary elections. It provides that the electoral registers should be marked to show the declarations of local connection that only apply to registration as a local government elector in Wales.
51.Section 19(5) also makes provision about how declarations of local connection should be marked on the register.