Labour members knocked on doors around Islington on Saturday 24 October to tackle changes they claim could lose them a million voters across the UK.
The measures require each individual in a household to register to vote, as opposed to the previous system in which only one householder could register everybody.
The Government has brought the measures forward to December 1, saying the change is to combat electoral fraud, and contradicting advice from the independent Electoral Commission to wait until the end of 2016.
However, Labour believes the move will disproportionately shrink its core vote. The party’s campaign to raise awareness about the legislation has been dubbed #MissingMillion on social media, as the Electoral Commission says 1.9 million voters in total could be affected.
Labour believes the move will particularly impact students, many of whom were previously registered automatically by their university halls.
Mildmay councillor Jenny Kay said: “Loads of people have fallen off [the register], and there are hordes and hordes of students in the south of the borough.”
She added that she herself had fallen off the register three times due to clerical errors.
The legislation will come into effect ahead of the mayoral election in May between Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith and Labour candidate Sadiq Khan.
Photo credit: Mildmay Labour
