Second home voters: how the lists are made

In pursuit of issues raised by my earlier post, I today put three questions to Cornwall Council's Electoral Services department. The questions were, since 2009: How many complaints or challenges have there been to the accuracy of the Cornwall voters' register? How many have been investigated and how many would-be voters removed from the list?

Here's the answer, a bit short of relevant numbers but still interesting:

"Electoral Services have carried out in excess of eighteen registration reviews over the last twelve months. This involves requesting documentary evidence from electors as to their degree of residence and checking our Council Tax records. In addition to this, a data-matching exercise was carried out last September comparing information held on the Council Tax data-base against the Electoral Services data-base to produce a report of those properties classed as empty or second homes on the Council Tax records to establish any discrepancies. This is an on-going exercise with periodic reviews taking place as and when time is available."

It would appear that if you have evidence of a specific abuse, you should report it to County Hall.