LOCAL Brits hoping to cast a vote on July 4th in the General Election are in luck.
Thanks to an important change in British voting law since the last election, British citizens living overseas CAN now vote, provided they register at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.
Prospective voters can register in the last constituency where they were registered or in the place they lived if not registered before – a valuable option for those who moved abroad as young adults and never participated in UK elections.
Applicants will be required to provide upload some paperwork to prove their last place of residence in the UK and it will certainly be easier for those who had been previously registered to vote before leaving the UK, but we found the website easy to navigate and simple to use this week, reinforcing the government’s stated aim to make expat voter six weeks to go before the big day, applicants should be able to get their registrations squared away in plenty of time.
In order to vote, registrants living abroad must be 18 years or over on polling day, they must be a British, Irish or qualifying Commonwealth citizen, they must be registered as an overseas voter and not legally excluded from voting.
The change in the law came about largely due to the tireless efforts of Harry Shindler, who fought a long campaign to overturn the long- held policy of excluding British citizens who had lived abroad for more than 15 years. Mr Shindler was a former British army officer and a veteran of the WW2 Anzio campaign who settled in Italy after the war but was infuriated by the removal of his voting rights. Shindler challenged the 15-year voting limit in 2016 and subsequently won a landmark case against the British government in the European Court of Justice. The result was 2021’s Elections Bill, which has re- enfranchised over 3 million British citizens residing overseas, allowing them to participate in all UK elections.
The advocacy group British in Europe highlights that this legal adjustment aligns the UK with other major democracies like the US, France, Italy, and Canada, all of which grant lifelong voting rights.
Jane Golding, co-chair of the campaign group, emphasized the historic nature of this change, stating: “Voting is a basic citizenship right regardless of where someone lives.” She acknowledged the tireless efforts of Shindler, who sadly passed away before being able to exercise his hard-earned vote.
