electoral register reform

I've just been reading this from the Ministry of Justice

To that end, I am announcing today that the Ministry of Justice will host an event early in the New Year to consider how we approach the data sharing aspects of reforms to the electoral register. The electoral register is a vital document. It is the foundation stone of our democratic processes and vital to the integrity of our elections. It has also, since the nineteenth century, been a public document – although there are important restrictions on who may obtain a copy of the full register.

The register is held locally, by some 400 different electoral registration officers. The unit of electoral registration has historically been the household. The government passed legislation this summer to move to a system of individual registration – where each person will provide their name and address, and three personal identifiers – signature, date of birth, and National Insurance number – in order to be entered onto the register.

There are three main forces driving this historic shift – the empowerment of the individual that comes with taking personal responsibility for your vote, the need to improve the completeness and accuracy of the register and the fundamental importance of enhancing the security of the ballot. The provision of identifiers as part of this new system – in particular, the National Insurance number – is intended to allow electoral registration officers to verify registration applications through cross-checking the information they are given, and so guard against fraud. Those identifiers will not be available to the public, for obvious reasons – they are solely for the electoral registration officer's use.

This move to individual registration, and the use of such personal identifiers to improve the integrity of the system, had all-party support, and is backed by the Electoral Commission. The question now is how to implement this shift in a way that commands public confidence and support. Individual voter registration will improve our systems of electoral registration. But the register will change and more personal data will be held.

Does anyone else feel uneasy at the prospect?