Electoral experts have urged senior town hall managers to quickly adapt to technological change if they want individual electoral registration (IER) to improve local voter turnout.

Democracy Counts, a leading provider of election management tools, this week responded to a warning from the Electoral Commission that certain sections of society remain underrepresented on current registers for the forthcoming European and local elections.

The commission this week revealed that around 8.5 million people were not registered for elections in 2011. This included a massive 44% of eligible 19-24-year-olds who were not registered, compared with just 6% of the 65-plus age group.