The British government is considering changes to the voter registration system in Northern Ireland following talks with Sinn Féin, it emerged tonight.
Sinn Féin sources said Whitehall had admitted that the system of making people in Northern Ireland register each year to vote had led to a shredding of the electoral register.
They believed that the registration would now take place either every three years or four years.
"We expect as a result of the concerns we raised that the British Government will bring in changes to the legislation governing electoral registration," a party source said.
"We have argued that the current arrangements have disenfranchised large numbers of people.
"The electoral register is shrinking year on year."
Nationalist and unionist parties have claimed the registration process has at times been confusing, with voters thinking the forms entitle them to vote in future elections and not realising that they had to register every year.
Falling turnout at the polls during last November's Assembly election and this year's European Parliament election have been blamed on the registration process.
Politicians have also claimed that the areas which have seen the most dramatic fall in eligible voters have been mostly working class neighbourhoods.