13. Every registration office shall prepare two types of registers, a register of parliamentary electors and a register of local government electors, each of which shall contain the name of the person, his or her address and electoral number. Concerning the maintenance of the registers, Section 10 establishes the duty (subject to the prescribed exceptions) of each registration office to conduct an annual canvass in the area under their jurisdiction “for ascertaining the persons who are for the time being entitled to be, or to remain, registered in his registers”. In the case of Northern Ireland, as it will be seen below, the form and timing of the canvass are subject to strict rules.[3]
