Independent review backs Automatic Voter Registration in Wales

Trial pilots across Wales have successfully registered over 16,000 new voters automatically, an independent evaluation has found, paving the way for a more accessible democracy. 

Wales became the first devolved nation in the UK to trial automatic voter registration earlier this year, working with four local authorities – Carmarthenshire, Gwynedd, Newport and Powys – to test how locally held data could be used to register voters without requiring an application. 

The Electoral Commission's evaluation, published today (17 December 2025), found the pilots added just over 14,500 new voters to the registers (which represented between 2-8% of the register in each local authority area).

Crucially, the scheme also registered around 1,500 young attainers aged 14-15 in Gwynedd and Powys – representing up to 37% of all potential attainers in those areas. 

Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government, Jayne Bryant, said: 

"I welcome the Electoral Commission's thorough evaluation of the automatic voter registration pilots. The findings clearly show that implementing this change could make our democracy more accessible, particularly for young people and others who are currently under-represented on the register. 

"This is an important part of our commitment to ensuring that every eligible voter can actively participate in our democracy, and I would like to thank all four local authorities who took part in the pilots. We will now carefully consider the Electoral Commission's recommendations before making decisions on rolling this further out across Wales." 

Cllr Richard Church, Powys County Council's Cabinet Member for Legal and Regulatory Services, said: “We were proud to take part in this important trial, which shows how automatic voter registration can make democracy more inclusive and accessible. In Powys, we saw real benefits for young people and others who might otherwise miss out on having their voice heard. This is a positive step towards ensuring that every eligible voter is represented.”

Automatic voter registration will not be introduced for the Senedd election on 7 May 2026. Those who haven't registered before, have recently moved house or changed their name should continue register at https://gov.uk/register-to-vote by midnight on Monday 20 April. 

Notes to editors

The Electoral Commission is the independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK. You can read its full report on automatic voter registration here: Automatic registration pilots evaluation | Electoral Commission

The report recommends that before taking a final decision on whether to implement automatic registration, the Welsh Government should:    

• Consider data from the annual canvass to assess the data matching accuracy 

• Consider the time and resources needed to ensure Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and their teams can deliver a new automatic registration system successfully 
• Make an assessment of the overall cost of implementation alongside the likely benefits 
• Consider how a form of automatic registration introduced in Wales is best implemented in order to allow for efficient future integration with any UK-wide system.