A FORMER Leominster mayor – who has lived at the same address for more than 40 years – has been left feeling like she doesn’t exist after being asked to prove she is eligible to vote.

Patricia Thomas, 74, has lived at Danesfield Drive in Leominster for 44 years and said she has voted in every election.

But this year she has been told that, according to the register, her identity cannot be verified and will need to send “a number of documents” to prove who she is.

She said: “I have lived at the same address for 44 years and voted in every election.

“I voted last summer in the EU election but then had a sudden letter to say I wasn’t on the list, asking if I could give certain details to identify myself.

“I have been told I have to send a copy of my wedding certificate and another document. I have been mayor of Leominster and feel I’m not completely unknown in the area.

“Everyone is being encouraged to vote and get on the register but yet I have always been on it and am suddenly not.

“They are treating me as if I just don’t exist.”

Changes to electoral registration were implemented in June and mean that whenever Herefordshire Council receives a registration form – as it has to each year – it is sent to be checked electronically against a government database.

It is part of a fraud check to verify a voter’s identity against government records.

Previously, electoral registration was based on households, where one person at a property would list the names of every resident. This information was vulnerable to fraud.

In a statement, Herefordshire Council said: “We don’t receive any information as to why someone has failed to be verified.

It can be for any number of reasons. However, common patterns we have found are that if someone has tried to register under a middle name, as opposed to their legal first name, they cannot be matched as this name will not match with their National Insurance Number.

“As a result someone can have been registered under the same name and at the same property for a long period of time, but as the fraud check has only been introduced this year it may only have become an issue now.

“We do data match against other council records where possible. However in many cases this is not sufficient to match someone’s identity.”