ALMOST 7,000 extra people have signed up to vote in the city following an Oxford Mail campaign.

At the end of February, the week before our campaign started, there were 101,225 people on the electoral register.

That figure has now risen to 108,218, almost as high as the 111,863 who were registered in February 2014 before the system changed and thousands dropped off the roll.

Oxford City Council used a number of methods to encourage people to sign up, including knocking on doors in areas with lots of homes in multiple occupancy (HMOs) and a high-profile advertising campaign.

The deadline to register was April 20.

Our top stories

Electoral registration officer Jeremy Thomas said he was delighted with the results.

He said: “We sent out about 70,000 registrations to people in the period between January and May encouraging them to register.

“We had a campaign targeting students and, of course, we had publicity from the Oxford Mail.

“We got data from our HMO licensing team and we picked the five districts with the highest concentration of HMOs in the city and got canvassers to go out there.

“The entitlement to vote follows from somebody being on the register.

“Just paying council tax does not entitle you to vote.

“It is vital for a healthy democracy that people sign up to vote, even if you do not do so.

“We do encourage people to vote but they do not have to.”

Thousands of people dropped off the register after a new voter registration system was introduced in 2014.

Under the old system one person in a household could sign up everyone else who lived there.

But the new system requires every voter in a household to register individually.

Partly as a result of the new system being introduced, the number of people on the register dropped from 111,863 in February 2014 to 99,729 in December.

Blackbird Leys voter Aamir Shahzad, 30, said: “It is very good news, it is wonderful.

“Voting is the way people can bring about change.

“Either you can sit and say things are right or wrong, because criticism is easy, or you can change things with your vote”

City council leader and Labour councillor Bob Price praised council staff for their efforts.

He said: “The council’s electoral registration team have pulled out the stops to get everyone who is entitled to vote on to the new register, and the two universities have given a lot of valuable support.”

And Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon Layla Moran encouraged people to use their vote on May 7.

She said: “Oxford West and Abingdon is the 11th tightest marginal seat in the country so every vote absolutely counts.

“If you cast your ballot for any party you will have a big say in who forms the government.

“That is particularly important because of how tight the election is predicted to be.

“I am delighted that so many people have signed up to register to vote.”