The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has published its consultation paper on the development of a digital electoral roll.

The Co-ordinated Online Register of Electors (Core) project was launched in January as part of the government's drive to make voter registration easier, more accurate and more cost effective.

The plan is one of a number of parallel database projects highlighted by Computing's Data Debate campaign.

The consultation document says ODPM is aware of related projects such as the Home Office's ID cards scheme and the Office of National Statistics' Citizen Information Project.

'At this stage, although it is clear that there are potential overlaps, it is assumed that there will be no practical impact on electoral registration for the next five years at least - except possibly in terms of regarding the electoral registers are one source of data about citizens, useful to these projects when initially setting up their databases,' says the consultation document.

Local authorities have until August to give feedback on ODPM's two-phase plan for standardised personal information and a national digital roll. It is undecided whether there will be a single database or a series of linked local systems.

'At present, the government is keeping an open mind about whether the requirements will be best met by a 'national register' or by some mechanism for providing access to the locally-held data,' says the consultation paper.

The target for adherence to national data standards is March 2005 and the timetable for developing the national system will be decided once the consultation is complete.