Facebook reminds UK users to register to vote in May elections
LONDON -- People eligible to vote in the UK elections in May are seeing an update in their Facebook newsfeed reminding them to register to vote.
The social network has teamed up with the Electoral Commission to put a message in people's timelines prompting them to go to Gov.uk and use the online registration site.
The measure follows a similar initiative launched ahead of last year's general election, which resulted in over 15 million people viewing the registration reminder, Facebook said in a statement.
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Facebook has tried out similar initiatives in the United States during the 2012 presidential election, with voters in Washington state even being able to register directly from the platform.
Users are seeing the reminder on Tuesday, April 12, less than one week ahead of the deadline to register for the May 5 vote.
Britons will elect representatives for the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Greater London Authority and 128 local councils.
There will also be mayoral elections in London, Bristol, Liverpool and Salford, as well as elections for police and crime commissioners across the country.
Alex Robertson, director of communications at the Electoral Commission said 23,000 people applied to register to vote the day after the registration deadline for the UK General Election
"We don't want anyone to miss out this time and it takes just a few minutes to register online at www.gov.uk/registertovote," he said.
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