The Electoral Commission has reported to the Parliamentary Parties Panel (PPP) on 20th November, 2013 the results of a consultation into boosting the registration of overseas electors. As a potential overseas voter (not disqualified by the 15-year-rule), shouldn’t you make sure that you are already registered to vote via the Electoral Commission website: www.aboutmyvote.co.uk?
To get the 15-year-rule removed, it is critical to our campaign to get the overseas voter registration rate up above 100,000 (compared with the current 30,000 which is equivalent to less than half of an average constituency).
Electoral Commission report to PPP
We [the Electoral Commission] have been working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and political parties to develop our approach, which is set out below.
We will run an online registration campaign targeting British citizens living overseas in the countries with the highest number of British expats (Australia, USA, Spain, Canada, Ireland, France, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany, and the UAE – we’re reviewing the list now with the FCO).
Our previous campaigns have shown that online advertising is a cost-efficient way of reaching British citizens living overseas. Based on this, we will advertise on specific websites that we know are commonly used by British citizens overseas, such as the BBC and the websites of British newspapers.
Our campaign will also include advertising that is triggered in response to people using Google search terms that indicate an interest in UK elections, and advertising aimed at people who originally set up email accounts in the UK but are now accessing them overseas.
We will also look at creating non-date specific radio adverts which have a long life span and can be played when required by overseas radio stations aimed at expats, such as Talk Radio Europe.
We will be providing a range of online resources for parties, consulates and embassies and others with links to the expat community to use. We will be organising an overseas ‘registration day’ to encourage voters to take action and aiming press releases/interviews/articles and blogs at media frequently consumed by the expat community. We will begin the campaign in mid-February to allow more time for the partnership work to deliver results and to take account of the additional time overseas voters will need to post forms to the UK.
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When i emigrated in 1993 the UK gov. DID NOT STATE THAT OVERSEAS VOTERS HAD A RIGHT TO REGISTER in the UK gov. fact sheets provided at that time . It has been solely the internet that has provided the overseas vote rules which in my case = disenfranchisement= loss of identity . I did apply to my last registrar STILL WITHIN THE 20 YEAR RULE representation of the Peoples Act 1985 / 1989 (all jurisdictions ) but dispite my représentations re the VALIDITY of the ELECTORAL, POLITICAL PARTIES, REFERENDUMS ACT 2000 ALL UK insofar a one line ammendment in that act ” delete 20 years insert 15 years ” was not a relevent ACT re REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLES ACT ( in my case Scotland ) Needless to say the Electoral Commission is a UK Gov . puppet not a representative of the CITIZEN . If you couple this LOSS OF IDENTITY UK with the the attempts to restrict UK benifits / indexing UK state pensions ( only being thwatered by EU law at present) then when will UK people realise that the Westminster Establishment is way past its sell by date and needs a serious overhall. IT DOES NOT REPRESENT THE UK CITIZEN and it is not a Democracy .
I’m going to pass this blog on to every expat and expat organisation I know. Keep up the good work.
At last!! Thanks for this info.
In Spain the Spanish Government has already run a big campaign about this….lectures, presentations etc and letters and forms to fill in…all to foreign residents: And of course the 15 year rule does not apply to Brits when they vote in Spain. Many Brits are choosing the easy option and registering to vote in Spain.
Has the UK missed the boat again?? All talk and committees and little action possibly too late?
Does Spain allow ALL RESIDENTS to register to vote for All Spanish and EU élections or like most EU countries only local and EU élections ? As UK is in the EU one can see why it holds to the later case ( except Scotland where ANY resident can vote local and National ( Holyrood Edinburgh Gov) but not UK Gov. My other blogs explains
Michael,
Regarding your question, to my understanding all citizens of an EU member state resident in Spain can vote in Spanish European and local but not national elections, the latter open only to Spanish citizens
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