Voting watchdogs the Electoral Commission have launched a major awareness campaign alerting members of the public to expect a letter from their council explaining new voter registration arrangements.

The mass-media campaign will involve advertisements on TV, online and even billboards in taregeted areas where research shows people are most likely to need to take action to remain entitled to vote.

In the letters, local authority Electoral Registration Officers will inform residents about the new Individual Electoral Registration (IER) system, which the Commissions says is the biggest change to the system for a century.