A CLIPBOARD army of volunteers have been encouraging homeless voters to take part in the General Election.

A voter drive in Brighton and Hove has seen scores of residents without a home sign up, allowing them to go to the polls on June 8.

Advice is also being given to mental health patients, merchant seamen, members of the Traveller community, boat owners and people in custody to encourage them to get registered.

Councils have been contacting every resident in a bid to tap into the increased political interest following last summer’s referendum, ahead of the registration cut-off date on Monday.

Local authorities have also been using social media and sticking up posters in a bid to increase turnout as well as sending out empty property poll cards to addresses where there is currently no-one registered to vote.

Brighton and Hove City Council has been leading a campaign to ensure voters who are homeless or in temporary accommodation are still registered to vote.

The drive could affect more than 140 officially-recorded street homeless and thousands living in temporary accommodation.

Residents with no fixed abode are able to vote in a polling station near to where they live or where they spend the time during the day.

Residents without a fixed address can list address as a place where they spend a lot of their time such as a hostel, drop-in centre or a library and can give Brighton Town Hall as their correspondence address. 

Campaigner David Freeley said he estimated around 90 people of no fixed abode had been signed up by the voter drive.

He said: “Many of the people we spoke to were extremely surprised that they could vote.

“But many of these people are most affected by politics, whether its changes to housing benefits, or education or social issues.

“It only takes a few minutes, just a simple form to fill in, and then they are registered.”

Wealden District Council said the publicity surrounding last year’s EU referendum had led to an increase in people registering to vote.

The authority said it had been particularly proactive in reaching out to students by writing to pupils aged between 16 and 18 at secondary schools and sixth forms inviting them to register and asking sixth form heads to raise registration at appropriate assemblies.

In 2015, 23 Eastbourne residents were turned away on the day from polling stations because they were not registered.

To avoid a repeat, the council has been using social media to spread the word and emailing reminders to residents who had not completed their application.

Mid Sussex District Council said it has received a 97 per cent response rate to this year’s annual canvass while Lewes had a 91 per cent return.

The East Sussex authority said it had a “relatively low population churn” meaning eligible voter changes had not changed much compared to some of our neighbouring authorities adding there had been an increase in registrations since the election was announced.

A spokeswoman said: “The LDC twitter account is putting out the electoral commission registration tweets to promote registrations.

“We don’t face the same issues that some other local authorities have with students as we have no university halls within our area.”

A Rother District Council spokesman said: “We have been using social media and our website to remind electors of deadlines to register to vote.

“Posters encouraging people to register have been on display at Bexhill Town Hall and at our help points across the district, where booklets explaining voting and elections to people with learning disabilities are also available.