Eligible voters in Wales could soon be added to the electoral register automatically.
On 3 November 2026, the Senedd will be asked to approve regulations to introduce automatic voter registration (AVR) for Senedd and local government elections. This will be rolled out ahead of the local government elections in May 2027. You can watch the debate live on Senedd TV.
The regulations follow pilots initiated by the Welsh Government in four local authorities. This article explains what AVR is, sets out findings from the pilots, and considers the proposals to roll it out.
AVR in practice
AVR means that voters no longer have to register themselves to be eligible to vote, as is the case under the current system.
Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) will be required to use data matching to identify potential eligible voters. Examples of ‘matching data’ include name, date of birth, address, and property reference numbers. Data sources might include, for example, council tax lists, housing association lists, education data, and library services data.
Where an ERO is satisfied that a potential voter can be verified using data from two separate sources, they will be required to notify the person before adding them to the register. Where an ERO has identified a potential voter through education data, this source alone is considered robust enough to proceed.
A person will be able to opt out of registration, request anonymous registration, or state that they believe they are not eligible to be registered.
Where an ERO cannot identify a person through the data matching process with certainty, but believes they have identified an eligible unregistered person, they should invite that person to register themselves through the existing process.
The Welsh Government hopes that the move to AVR will increase the accuracy and completeness of the electoral register, and remove barriers to voting.
For more information on the current registration system and AVR, see our earlier article.
Proof is in the pilots
In 2025, AVR pilots were held in Carmarthenshire, Gwynedd, Newport and Powys, where potential voters were identified using data matching. They had 60 days to opt out of automatic registration.
The Electoral Commission published an evaluation of the pilots. It noted that the pilots “identified and automatically added just over 14,500 new electors to the registers”, as well as 1,500 ‘attainers’ (14 and 15 year olds eligible to register).
The Electoral Commission concluded that AVR could be rolled out across Wales, and that it “could have a positive impact on the completeness of the electoral registers”. It did, however, make several recommendations to the Welsh Government, including that it should:
- Assess the overall cost of implementation alongside the likely benefits;
- Consider the optimal timing and frequency of an automatic registration process;
- Consider a reduction in the ‘opt out’ notification period from 60 days; and
- Consider how AVR introduced in Wales is best implemented in order to allow for efficient future integration with any UK-wide system.
Registration regulations
The Welsh Government has laid draft regulations to roll out AVR across Wales before the Senedd.
These regulations would introduce a similar AVR system to the one piloted, with some amendments as a result of the Electoral Commission’s recommendations, including:
- The 60 day ‘opt out’ notification period would be reduced to 28 days; and
- EROs would be required to conduct an AVR exercise at least once in a calendar year, rather than up to four times.
The Welsh Government provided updated cost estimates for AVR in the regulatory impact assessment (RIA) of the draft regulations. It estimates that the toral implementation costs for 2026-27 would be £4.4m, an increase of over £1.8m from the initial RIA estimated costs of £2.6m.
Before rolling out AVR, the Welsh Government was under a duty to remove the requirement for EROs to prepare and supply edited (or open) registers of local government electors. This was effected through regulations, and came into force on 1 October 2026. The edited register was available for public inspection and purchase. Voters were able to opt out of appearing in this register.
The full register is still available, but access to it is restricted for certain purposes, such as electoral administration and jury summoning. The full register includes details of everyone who isn’t registered anonymously.
Senedd scrutiny
The Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Act 2024 gives the Senedd the option to conduct enhanced scrutiny of electoral reform regulations.
The Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee chose to invoke this enhanced procedure, and held evidence sessions on the AVR regulations. In its sessions with stakeholders, the Committee heard concerns about the proposed rollout of AVR, including matters relating to:
- Whether the 28-day opt out period is long enough, particularly for vulnerable people such as survivors of domestic abuse who may wish to not be registered or to register anonymously;
- The quality of data available to local authorities to identify potential eligible voters;
- Uncertainty around ongoing costs of AVR beyond the initial implementation; and
- Whether it is possible to roll out AVR ahead of the 2027 local government elections.
The Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, Siân Gwenllian MS, said the move to AVR would introduce “such an important step in expanding our democracy”, but acknowledged the “ambitious” timetable ahead of the 2027 local elections.
In its subsequent report, a majority of Committee Members recommended that the Senedd should agree to the regulations without material amendment. The Committee also called for:
- Regular evaluation of AVR;
- The Welsh Government to work with groups representing vulnerable people to raise awareness of the changes; and
- The Welsh Government to engage with the UK Government regarding accessing UK sources of data.
Wales leading the way?
If the Senedd votes to approve the regulations on 3 November 2026, Wales will become the first UK nation to introduce AVR. The UK Government, however, has previously indicated that it wants to follow suit. A policy paper notes an aim:
…to transform our registration practices, harnessing public sector data and moving towards an automated system so electors can easily and simply be correctly registered to vote.
The first stages of this will likely be taken forward by the Representation of the People Bill 2026, if it becomes law. The Bill provides for AVR pilots to take place for UK Parliament electors and for local government electors in England and Northern Ireland.
The Welsh Government has said that it will work with the UK Government on its plans, and seek to “minimise divergence wherever possible”.
If the Senedd approves the regulations, next year’s local government elections will be the first opportunity to see how AVR could make voting easier and increase participation.
Article by Adam Cooke, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament