Cornwall stops second home owners from voting

North Cornwall Liberal Democrat MP Dan Rogerson said there were so many second homes in the county that previous elections may have been swung by the votes of people who did not spend most of their time in the area.

There are more than 13,000 second homes in Cornwall, and owners are eligible for a 10 per cent council tax discount. From now on, people who want their names added to the electoral register will be checked against the database of those receiving this discount.

If they are unable to satisfy the council that their home in Cornwall is their “primary residence”, they will not be added to the register. This means they will not be able to vote in elections.

A council spokeswoman conceded, however, that second home owners who did not apply for a council tax discount would not be caught out by the new rules.

Cornwall Council is run by a coaltion of Conservatives and Independents. Alex Folkes, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the council, said in his blog: “This is an issue about which I, and North Cornwall MP Dan Rogerson, have been campaigning for a number of years. By making it harder for second home owners to register to vote, we will be upholding the law that limits voting rights to people who actually live in an area.”

Additional voters could have swung elections. Dan Rogerson MP

Mr Rogerson said: “Around one in twenty households across Cornwall is a second home and owners receive a council tax discount. With that number of properties, the potential additional voters could have been enough to swing almost any election. We know that a large number of second home users did register to vote and so it is possible that they have already swung an election.

“We are not trying to push second home owners into the sea. What we are saying is you have to recognise that your connection to the community is not the same as those who are here full time. Of course there is a contribution to the local economy, but I would prefer that they are using local hotels or campsites.”

Prevented from voting twice

Richard Williams, Cornwall Council’s head of electoral services, said second home owners would be prevented from wrongly voting twice. “Councillors in Cornwall feel strongly that electors should only vote when and where they are entitled to and that second home owners already have a chance to vote in the area of their main residence. This will make it much less likely that someone who is not eligible to vote will be able to do so”.

Last year, 2,653 second home owners were registered to vote in Cornwall. Letters were sent to these people, and as a result, 947 were removed from the register.