Speaker: Josh Howlett, head of trust and identity, Jisc Experience the interface and tech behind the student voter registration app, a community developed to ensure your students have registered to vote. See the portal in action and how easy it is to use!

1. Student voter
registration service
Josh Howlett, (head, trust and identity)

2. • Introduction of Individual Electoral Registration in 2014
‒ Intended to reduce voter fraud
‒ But had the effect of removing large numbers of students from electoral registers
Background
Student voter registration service3
• Passage of Higher Education & Research Bill in 2017
‒ Creates a new regulatory framework for Higher Education (HE) in England
‒ Requires HE providers to provide student data to Electoral Registration Officers
(EROs) “taking into account its obligations under data protection legislation”
• Implementation of GDPR in 2018
‒ Introduces new statutory obligations concerning personal data
‒ Reduces organisational appetite to collect and process data

3. Statutory and regulatory framework
• Condition E5 of registration with OfS
“The provider must comply with guidance
published by the OfS to facilitate, in co-operation
with electoral registration officers, the electoral
registration of students”
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• EROs have a “power to require information”
from the Representation of the People
(England and Wales) Regulation 2001

4. Electoral registration
•Data needed for electoral registration
• Forename
• Surname
• Date of birth
• Nationality
• Address
• Email
• National Insurance number
• Voting preferences (in person or by post)
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•Electoral consents needed
‒Consent to be added to the electoral register
‒Consent to be added to the open register
•Electoral registration can be complex
‒Appropriate notices must be provided when
collecting data for electoral registration
‒The National Insurance number is needed for
authentication
‒A lawful basis is needed for data processing
‒Data must be collected and transferred securely
‒Data may need to provided to multiple EROs
‒EROs may refuse data that does not meet their
standards

5. 1. We provide an attractive, secure website for students that
• where possible, collects the necessary student data from the HE provider’s systems
• collects the remaining data directly from the student
• collects the student’s consents and voting preferences
2. We manage the relationship with each ERO, securely
providing them with the relevant student data
3. We provide regular reports for HE providers
• track registration progress
• benchmark performance against other comparators
Service proposition
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6. Shared digital intelligence
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1. HE providers enter into service contracts with
Jisc
2. LAs enter into data sharing agreement with Jisc
3. Users access the website and
› consent to their university providing their data;
and/or
› provide the remaining data; and
› confirm their electoral consents and voting
preferences
4. Jisc provides regular reports to HE providers
and LAs
HE providers
Local Authorities

7. Data sharing – organisational
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Jisc provides data
to ERO under
Data Sharing
Agreement
Student accesses website and
provides voting consents and
preferences, and any data not
provided by their HE provider
Student
registers with
HE provider
HE provider
sub-contracts electoral
registration to Jisc,
providing as much
student data as possible

8. Data sharing – implementation
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IT department
Electoral consents & preferences; any user-provided data
Registry
Identity
Management
system
Identity
Provider
Data transferred using the UK Access Management Federation
User authentication & consent
SVR

9. Features and benefits
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Feature Advantage Benefit
Jisc collects the student's National
Insurance number on behalf of the HE
provider
HE provider does not need to collect the
National Insurance number, which is not
needed for any other purpose
Service facilitates HE provider’s compliance
with GDPR
Jisc manages the data sharing agreement
with the relevant EROs
Reduces the need for large numbers of
data sharing agreements between HE
providers and EROs
Service reduces the cost of electoral
registration to HE providers and EROs,
saving the sector money
Jisc can collect almost all the student data
from the HE provider
Reduces the amount of data that students
must input themselves
Service provides an attractive registration
experience for students and data should
contain fewer errors
Jisc provides electoral registration reports
to the relevant EROs
EROs are provided with timely, accurate
reports
Service facilitates the HE providers’
compliance with the OfS’ electoral
registration requirement
Jisc provides electoral registration reports
to HE providers
HE providers can monitor and benchmark
and evidence their performance
Service facilitates HE providers’ compliance
with the OfS’ electoral registration
requirement

10. Features and benefits
Eighteen universities
Sector associations
Vendors
Regulators
Government

11. Tariff
Eligible student FTEs Annual charge (ex VAT)
Under 1,000 £2,000
1,000 to 4,999 £2,750
5,000 to 9,999 £3,500
10,000 to 14,999 £4,250
15,000 to 19,999 £5,000
20,000 or over £5,750

12. Next steps
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13. Timelines
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•Service launch on Monday 1 April
•HE providers and LAs able to sign-up to the service and commence
implementation
•End-to-end testing of data sharing from Monday 6 May
•Request from EROs, owing to May local elections
•However, possibility of further delay if there is a European and/or
General election or other poll
•Institutions will then be able to transfer student data when they and
relevant EROs are ready

14. On-boarding
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1. Apply for the service via your Jisc account manager
• Not sure who that is? Contact help@jisc.ac.uk
2. Tell us which Local Authorities are most relevant
• We will notice students attempting to register for other LAs, and work to bring these onto the service
• Currently only able to supply data to LAs in England and Wales
3. Configure your Identity Provider to share the necessary data
• You may need to expand the dataset exported from your Student Records System to your Identity
Management System
• We can provide documentation for Shibboleth
4. Decide how you will direct your students to the website
• You will probably want to integrate this within academic registration
• Students may also want to access the service at other times

15. Frequently asked questions
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Does my institution need to be a Jisc member to
take the service?
Yes
Why is a charge applied?
The service is only relevant to some members
Does my institution need to be a member of the UK
Access Management Federation?
Yes – this is how we authenticate users, a requirement
of electoral registration
What if we don’t use Shibboleth?
We can discuss your options; please raise this with your
Jisc account manager in the first instance
Can you join a discussion between the Registry
Office and the IT department?
Yes – this collaboration is essential for implementation,
and so we are happy to assist
Our IT department has insufficient resources; can you
help?
We are able to provide resources at additional cost; please
raise this with your account manager
My institution will not need to register with OfS; can
we still use the service?
Yes, if you are located in England; we will make the
service available throughout the UK soon
Who will police the electoral registration requirement?
Your local ERO; the OfS is responsible for enforcement
Will my ERO(s) agree to take data from this service?
Every ERO we have spoken to is supportive of the service;
we are happy to support any discussions
Is Jisc charging Local Authorities for data?
No: we will provide the data to EROs at no cost

16. Roadmap
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• Expand electoral footprint to all regions of the UK
• Inform the academic registrar if a student provides an address different to that provided by the
institution
• Offer students information on forthcoming elections and candidates in their locality
• Remind students of imminent elections and signpost them towards their nearest polling stations
• Work with organisations promoting youth democratic engagement to increase levels of electoral
awareness before registration of first years
• Integration with the Government’s IERDS system

17. Summary
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• Encourage students to engage with the democratic process
• Increase efficiency – save the time and money you’d spend on developing and
maintaining your own system
• Facilitate compliance with the Office of Students' mandatory requirement for
facilitating electoral registration
jisc.ac.uk/student-voter-registration

18. Demonstration

19. Q&A

20. customerservices@jisc.ac.uk
jisc.ac.uk
Thank you
Josh Howlett
Head, trust and identity
Josh.Howlett@jisc.ac.uk
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