Surge in applications to register to vote ahead of a possible general election

Campaigners from the Vote For Your Future initiative. Photograph: Twitter. - Credit: Archant

Nearly two million people have applied to register to vote in the past eight weeks, according to new government figures.

The figure is almost double the number for the previous eight weeks with, on average, a quarter of a million every week registering to vote since Boris Johnson first proposed a general election in early September.

In total, 1,966,876 applications were submitted in the eight weeks to October 27.

More than half (58%) were from people aged 34 and under, while just 7% came from those aged 65 and over.

There were big spikes in applications on September 3 and 4 (64,485 and 82,442 respectively) following Boris Johnson’s announcement on September 2nd, when he insisted he did not want to hold one.

Despite this, Boris Johnson tabled a proposal to hold one, which was lost, but registrations continued to rise.

The biggest spike so far this month was on October 24, when 44,592 applications were submitted.

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If a snap general election was to take place on December 12, the deadline for applying to register to vote is likely to be November 25.

If polling day is December 9, the deadline would be November 20.

Full details on how to register are at gov.uk/register-to-vote.