NON-VOTERS could have altered the outcome of the last general election in every constituency in the North-East and North Yorkshire, The Northern Echo has found.

Majorities obtained by all of the region’s incumbent MPs in 2017 could have been toppled if more registered voters had turned out on election day, figures suggest.

With just hours to go before voter registration closes for this year’s election, Echo analysis found that non-voters outnumbered winning majorities by more than 2,000 per cent in some areas, suggesting that every vote has the potential to bring about real change.

Those who choose to stay at home, thinking that their vote will not make a difference in the upcoming election could be proved wrong, if voting patterns from 2017 are repeated on December 13.

The Echo looked at election data relating to 17 constituencies across County Durham, Teesside and North Yorkshire and found that majorities as slim as 502, 888 and 1020 votes were dwarfed by the number of people who were registered to vote but did not get to the polling booth.

The Labour MP for Bishop Auckland, Helen Goodman, won by the slimmest majority - 502 - while in Stockton South, Dr Paul Williams, won by just 888 votes in an area where around 21,800 people did not cast their potentially result-changing vote.

Similarly, a majority of just 1020 won the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland seat for Tory Simon Clarke – but non-voters totalling more than 24,000 could have altered that outcome, too.

The difference between turn out and total number of registered voters was much slimmer in some areas of North Yorkshire, however.

In Richmond for example, 23,892 registered voters failed to tick their boxes but Conservative Rishi Sunak – now defending the seat – still won with a majority of 23,108.

In all, around a third of registered voters missed their chance to have a say in the 2017 election, with the true number of eligible voters believed to be much higher when considering those who are entitled to vote but did not sign up to the electoral register in time.

To cast a vote in the 2019 general election, you must be registered by 11.59pm on Tuesday, November 26 and must not be legally excluded from voting.

You must also be aged 18 or over on the day of the election and be a British, Irish or qualifying Commonwealth citizen.

To be eligible as a voter, you must also be resident in the UK or a British citizen living abroad who has been registered to vote in the past 15 years. Students can register using their home or university address but can only vote once.

Online registration takes around five minutes and can be done via gov.uk/register-to-vote. To apply to vote by post, registration must be completed by 5pm on November 26.