24/01/2024
From today (16th January, 2024) all long term expatriates who have previously lived in the UK are now entitled to vote for the rest of their lives.
We are circulating this note to contacts here because we strongly believe in the importance of expatriate voting. So we would be grateful if you would forward it to your British long term expatriate friends as the more people who are aware of this change in the voting rules, the better.
This is excellent news for long term British expatriates. Until today (16th January, 2023) expatriates who have lived outside the UK for more than 15 years have been denied the right to vote in British parliamentary elections and in any referendum. From today, that 15-year restriction has been abolished. So all long term expatriates who have previously lived in the UK are now entitled to vote for the rest of their lives.
To do so, they must register. For that, they are considered in the following categories:
• Those who were registered to vote as overseas voters until they lost that registration as they had been out of the UK for more than 15 years. They must apply via www.gov.uk/register-to-vote to renew their previous registration as an overseas elector. It will be helpful for them to have their national insurance number and their passport at hand.
• Those who were previously registered to vote at a UK address but have not registered to vote since moving overseas. They apply to register as above and must register to vote in the constituency where they were previously registered.
• Those who have never previously been registered to vote. If they previously lived in the UK they must register in the constituency of their last UK address. If they have never lived in the UK, they remain ineligible to vote.
They will then have a choice of how they vote. That can be done in person at a polling station, but of course you must be in your constituency on polling day. If you do vote in person, please note that there are new rules on voter identification; details can be found on https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/voter-id.
Alternatively you can vote by post or by proxy (i.e. by applying to have someone else vote for you). In practice, voting by post means there is a strong risk of your vote arriving too late to be counted. Postal voting forms cannot be sent out until after the last date for candidate registration so, by the time they have been delivered here and have been completed, they may well arrive in the UK too late to be counted. We expect that all are familiar with increasing postal delays.
Since living outside the UK, the author of this article has always voted by proxy. Your proxy must be eligible to vote in the polling station where you would vote yourself, i.e. that stated on your poll card, and will need to take their own photo ID with them to vote. If you do not know a suitable proxy living in your polling district, then our advice is for you to decide whom you wish to vote for and then contact their constituency organisation and ask them to advise you of one of their members who would be willing to be your proxy. This is what some now do.
Voting electronically is not possible in the UK.
We are circulating this note to contacts here because we strongly believe in the importance of expatriate voting. So would be grateful if you would forward it to your British long term expatriate friends as the more people who are aware of this change in the voting rules, the better.
Get on the electoral register so you can vote in elections and referendums.
