An online absent vote application service will be introduced to allow electors to apply for a postal or proxy vote online.
Identity checking will be introduced for absent vote applications for reserved polls (other than those for emergency proxies). This will apply to both online and paper applications.
New digital products and services undergo testing as part of their development – this is known as ‘beta testing’. Cardiff Council is supporting the Department of Levelling Up and Communities with their testing on the absent vote online service.
This Privacy Notice has been designed to inform those taking part in the Beta Trial about how their personal data will be processed by Cardiff Council.
What types of personal data do we process?
The types of personal data we process include, but are not limited to:
- Your name
- Address and postcode
- Contact information, such as your email address and phone number
- National Insurance Number
- Date of birth
- Photographic ID
How do we obtain your personal data?
Cardiff Council already hold your personal data on the electoral register. This information was collected from sources including:
- paper form
- via www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
- email
- telephone
- website
- face to face (via our employees)
- other Council departments
How do we use your personal data?
We will use your personal data for the purposes of:
- Your participation in the Beta Trial.
- To enable you to apply for apply for a postal or proxy vote online via a new GOV.UK service.
- To enable you to apply for Voter Authority Certificates.
- To verify your identity.
What is our lawful basis for processing your personal data?
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful basis we rely on for processing this information is:
Article 6 (1) (e) We need it to perform a public task.
For the processing of special category data, we rely on:
UK GDPR Article 9 (2) (g) – necessary for reasons of substantial public interest.
The organisations we may share your personal data with
We may share your personal data with other departments within Cardiff Council and external organisations we work with. These may include:
- Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
- Department for Work and Pensions
Your data protection rights
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
- Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
- Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
- Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.
Please contact us if you wish to make a request.
Telephone: 029 2087 2034
Electoral Services
Cardiff Council
Room 263
County Hall
Atlantic Wharf
Cardiff
CF10 4UW
How to complain
You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
Contacting Data Protection
Please contact the Data Protection Officer for further information.
Data Protection Officer
Information Governance Team
County Hall
Atlantic Wharf
Cardiff
CF10 4UW
This privacy notice was last updated in June 2023.