The Electoral Commission turned to Facebook for the first time today to encourage young voters to head to the ballot box.

It is hoped that tens of thousands of unregistered voters will download personalised registration forms from the social networking site, ahead of the April 20 deadline for the General Election on May 6.

The new application on the site’s Democracy UK page will be supported by a major advertising campaign.

Every UK Facebook user who logs into their account tomorrow will receive a prompt asking them if they are registered to vote – and if they are not, they will be directed to the new page.

The Electoral Commission – an independent body which sets standards for elections – estimates 3.5 million people who were eligible to vote in England and Wales in 2001 were not registered.

Spokesman Clinton Proud said: “If you’re not registered, you can’t vote – it’s very simple. By downloading and printing a form through Facebook, users can now make sure that they are able to have their say on election day.

“Many people assume they are automatically on the electoral register if they pay council tax or if they have voted before. This is not the case. ”

Facebook’s director of policy Richard Allan said that with 23 million users in the UK, Facebook was “uni-quely placed” to reach unregistered voters.

He said: “By joining forces with the Electoral Commission, we are now enabling our users to exercise their right to vote, as well as providing them with a platform to engage with the issues.

“Any Facebook user who is not currently registered to vote should visit the Democracy UK page and download a registration form.”