A presentation by Rhys Smith, chief technical architect, trust and identity, Jisc for Networkshop47.

1. Student voter
registration
Rhys Smith, chief technical architect, trust and identity, Jisc

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
• Passage of Higher Education and 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
Background
2 Student voter registration

3. Electoral registration
Student voter registration3
Data required
• Forename
• Surname
• Date of birth
• Nationality
• Address
• Email
• National Insurance number
• Voting preferences
(in person or by post)
Consent required
• Consent to be added to the electoral register
• Consent to be added to the open register

4. Electoral registration
Student voter registration4
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. Jisc student voter registration

6. Student voter registration
6
Service proposition
1.Jisc provides an attractive, secure website for students that:
- Receives necessary student data from the HE provider’s systems via SAML
- Collects the remaining data and consents/preferences directly from the student
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
Student voter registration

7. 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
Shared Digital Service
7
HE providers
Local Authorities
Student voter registration

8. Data sharing - organisational
8
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
Student voter registration

9. Data sharing - implementation
9
IT department
Electoral consents and preferences; any user-provided data
Registry
Identity
Management
system
Identity
Provider
Data transferred using the UK Access Management Federation
User authentication and consent
SVR

10. Features and benefits
Student voter registration10
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

11. • Service launched 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
Service timelines
Student voter registration11

12. 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
Joining the service
Student voter registration12

13. 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 directory
• We can provide documentation for Shibboleth and OpenAthens
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
Joining the service
Student voter registration13

14. • 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
Future roadmap
Student voter registration14

15. • 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
Summary
Student voter registration15

16. Demonstration
Student voter registration16