Genealogy Chat

Cheers Jools ..... I have never noticed this on a form ? Wonder if it's not too late to go and get this sorted now ? ... we completed a form just a couple of months ago ( as well as last year ..) I'll nip to council offices this next week and ask. Thanks Jools .... hope this helps others .... Elaine ;-)

There is a way to prevent this happening. When you get your electoral registration form in October, make sure you tick the box which says you wish the details to be witheld from the 'short' register. By default your details are on long and short registers, So, you must tick the box if you do not want your details to appear on the edited register which anyone can buy. It's the short register which can be bought by the database companies (and therefore 192[.]com) and where they get the junk mail details from. The long register is harder to check - it requires someone to physically go to the area in question and look at it. I know this won't solve the problem now, but it will in future years.

My family and I have now been on the receiving end of a 'lookup' and it's caused a little upset .... not 'major' but enough to provoke tears. PLEASE, if your asked for a lookup on the Electoral Roll, PLEASE think about the consequences this may have. Our situation is NOT life threatening, but for others it MAY be. None of us know all the reason's people ask for up todate info on people's whereabouts, it's NOT always for genealogical reasons. I'm NOT suggesting we don't help each other ... but maybe if we point people to where THEY should look for Electoral Rolls ... instead of making it so easy, and doing the lookups for them ... it might reduce possible problems. I KNOW this sounds a little 'far fetched' but my daughter has received a birthday card from her biological father ... and she's now petrified he will turn up on the doorstep ..... or maybe he's watching her .... We ARE in touch via e.mail, so for us the problem CAN and WILL be solved, but I'm thinking of others in similar situations ..... Please think twice about doing Electoral Roll Lookups within the last 20 years ? Elaine ;-)

I HAVE done lookups on 2005/6 Electoral Rolls before now .... and I have REQUESTED lookups on 2003/4 Electoral Roll's recently. ........... please read on ...