A SERIES of voting registration errors have resulted in thousands of forms being re-issued to householders across the country sparking fears of privacy breaches.

Around 170,000 Household Enquiry Forms were posted out to people in Ayrshire, many of them to the wrong people at the wrong addresses.

In one case Doug and Eve Short, from Kilbirnie, received a registration form meant for a single woman in her 80s and they have no idea where their own form has gone.

Many others across Ayrshire have hit social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to vent their anger at the chaos surrounding voting registration for next year’s Holyrood elections.

An investigation into the error has been launched by Helen McPhee, Electoral Registration Officer for Ayrshire, who has issued an apology for the “printing error”.

Scottish Borders Council has also been forced to apologise after admitting that nearly half the electoral registration forms sent out to the region’s 53,000 households this week contain a key printing error.

The council has given an assurance to more than 40,000 registered voters who do not want their personal details sold on to third parties that their data will be protected despite the document indicating otherwise.

The Ayrshire Valuation Joint Board said it plans to re-issue its annual electoral Household Enquiry Forms.

A voter registration letter is sent to all households in Scotland every year, gathering the information needed to produce the electoral register, which is a publicly available document containing the names and addresses of voters.

The forms go out addressed to The Occupier at a specific address listing the names of all voters currently registered at that same address in a bid to make sure the electoral register is up-to-date and accurate.

However, when canvassing got underway last week there was a printing error which mean that many of the forms with voters details being sent with errors on them.

McPhee said: “We’re very sorry this error has occurred and are actively working with the print company to investigate what’s happened. Our priority is to reassure voters across Ayrshire of the integrity of both their voter information and their inclusion on the electoral register – particularly with forthcoming by-elections in East and South Ayrshire.

“The Household Enquiry Forms only contain the names of voters registered at a particular address – no other details are included – and, as such, we do not expect this to have a significant impact. These forms also do, as a matter of course, often contain names of voters who are no longer at a specific address, as people will have moved away and not updated the electoral registration office when their details change.

“In addition, the electoral register is a public document, which can be checked – if people wish – in local libraries.

“To provide the necessary reassurance, I intend to re-issue Household Enquiry Forms – with the correct information – later this week, and I thank all our registered voters for their patience and co-operation while we work to resolve this issue.”

Short, 55, said he was concerned about security because the registration form advises voters to log in to an interactive voter response website linked to a private English company in Berkshire.

He said: “It looks as though most of Ayrshire have been sent Electoral Registration update forms with completely wrong details on them.

“My wife and I are a single woman in her 80s according to the form that we received.

“I had so much trouble getting AVJB to add me correctly, prior to the referendum, that I had to involve my MSP. There is also a link to a website which is a .co.uk site and not a government site, which also raises some concerns about security.

“I moved to North Ayrshire almost two years ago and fought a battle to get myself and my wife added to the register and the previous owners removed.

“After filling out several forms, e-mails, online forms and phone calls they continued to ignore me until I threatened them with an official complaint about the way they handled things.

“Eventually, when my MSP got involved and offered to help, I got it sorted out. AVJB don’t seem to be fit for purpose and when I saw this latest bungle I thought, ‘here we go again’.

“On the form there was also a link to register-online.co.uk and a user id/password. I don’t know why they are using a private company based in Theale when there is already a government website for this.”

In the Borders, voters received forms saying they were happy for their details to be revealed on the open register when they had already expressed a wish to be removed.

A Scottish Borders Council spokesperson said: “The open register is an extract of the electoral register, but is not used for elections.

“It can be bought by any person, company or organisation. Electors’ names are included in the open register unless they ask for them to be removed.

“We apologise for the confusion and inconvenience caused.”