Electoral Services (Elections)

1. The purpose for which we use your personal data

The information we collect about you will be used for:

• Nominations of candidates, when you stand for election
• Recruiting and paying you as election staff

The legal basis for the processing of your information is to comply with our legal obligations under the following legislation:

• Representation of the Peoples’ Regulations 2001 (regulations 103,104, 105,106, 108)
• Local Elections (Principal Area) Rules 2006, Representation of the People Act 1983
• Representation of the People Acts 1983, 1985 and 2000
• Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
• Electoral Administration Act 2006
• National Assembly for Wales (Representation of the People Order) 2007

If you do not give us the information we need when we ask for it, this may result in you being unable to stand for election as a valid candidate, or work for us on election duties.  It is a statutory requirement to provide us with certain information in relation to the purposes set out above.

The RO, her deputies, polling station inspectors and all other staff (such as  Presiding Officers and Poll Clerks and including staff provided by Carmarthenshire County Council ("We") process your personal data in the public interest to ensure that you are registered to be able to vote in any election or referendum for which you are eligible and in order to perform tasks which are vested in the ERO and RO by UK law.

We are required to ask your nationality. This may be sensitive personal data. Other sensitive personal data that we may process includes information that is provided from disabled voters who require assistance in the polling station on election day or information that may be supplied by voters when making a VAC application. The sensitive personal data we process is collected for purposes of substantial public interests on the basis of law which is proportionate to the aim pursued. In doing so we respect the essence of the right to data protection and provide for measures to safeguard your interests as outlined in our policy document.

2. What type of information do we use?

We collect the following types of personal data about you to deliver this service:

• Name
• Address
• Telephone number
• Email address
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Unique staffing number as election staff
• Bank/payment details for election staff payments and candidates for national election deposits  
• Employment and education details, for the recruitment of election staff
• Photographs and images taken by media at election counts
• Vehicle registration number
• Your nationality, to establish your right to work as election staff
• Political opinions of candidates, which are in the public domain

3. Do we use information received from other sources?

To provide this service, we only collect information directly from you.

4. Transferring your information abroad

We use Microsoft Office 365 to process our electronic documents under the terms of a strict agreement, which safeguards your information. This personal data is hosted on servers outside the UK, but only in EU countries which are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation.

We don’t transfer any other information about you outside of the UK.

5. Who has access to your information?

We share the minimum amount of personal data required and only where it is necessary to do so.

Information about candidates is shared with the following:

• Registered Political Parties
• Other candidates standing for Election
• Elected Members
• Police Forces
• Government departments and other bodies
• Welsh Government Data Unit
• Idox, which provide our software system

We share personal data about election staff with the Council’s Payroll section to process your payment for election work and HM Revenue and Customs for tax purposes.

There are also other specific situations where we may be required to disclose information about you, such as:

• Where the Council is required to provide the information by law
• Where disclosing the information is required to prevent or detect a crime
• Where disclosure is in the vital interests of the person concerned

6. How long we will keep your information

• Nomination papers and marked copies of the register - one year
• Election expense returns - two years
• Election staff details are retained on a database until you no longer wish to take up electoral duties.

7. Your Data Protection rights

You have the right to:

• Obtain access to the personal data that Carmarthenshire Council is processing about you
• Have any inaccurate or incomplete information rectified (corrected)
• Withdraw your consent to processing, where this is the only basis for the processing
• Make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the independent body in the UK which protects information rights

In some circumstances, you may have the right to:

• Object to the processing of your personal information
• The erasure of your personal data
• Restrict the processing of your personal information
• Data portability

8. Contact details

For more information regarding this privacy notice and your rights, please contact:

Data Protection Officer
Carmarthenshire County Council
County Hall
Carmarthen
SA31 1JP

Email: dataprotection@carmarthenshire.gov.uk

Contact details for the Information Commissioner’s Office along with further guidance on Data Protection legislation can be found on the ICO website.