jack the miller

I just registered to vote in the upcoming UK election. It's painless. They've (finally) made a website that works. You'll need 3 things - your UK passport (if you have one), the postcode of the place you lived at when you last voted and your National Insurance number. I had to do a bit of digging for the latter. Actual digging. Once you have those bits you're ready to head to a website that I am not permitted to link to by the forum. So you'll need to google 'gov uk register to vote' to find it.

Perhaps someone who is more trusted than me can add the actual URL into the thread.

rammygirl

We did this but by the time we received our voting papers it was too late to return them! We gave up! Some councils are better than others but since most post we get from UK takes about 4 weeks to get here.............

jack the miller

OK. Good to know. As you're going through the registration process, they ask if you want to receive the forms by email or post. I guess we should go for the email option.

Thanks for sharing

Tom Sawyer

Same for me....actually got voting forms on the day before the last Euro elections, which was no use whatsoever.

rammygirl

GarryP

Particularly in the run up to Christmas.

No idea why they couldn't sort out online voting - if it's good enough for your money, it's at least good enough to vote between two muppets, neither of which are fit to run an egg and spoon race.

Anyway, they should have delayed it one day .................................. to Friday 13th December.

jack the miller

They announce the result on Friday the 13th. Perhaps that was the intention...

rammygirl

Yeah I must admit I would be hard pressed to vote for either of the main players!

brits1

I certainly hope you good people are one day planning to return to the UK to live as I personally cannot see any other reason why you would want to vote in another countries affair's in matters that do not affect you.

rammygirl

But they do affect me in terms of my UK assets (which are actually more than my Aus ones as I still have a UK registered company) and the exchange rates.

However I have not been able to vote because of time ( postal) limitations in the past and really feel conflicted about the current choices.

I do vote in;Australia though!

Tom Sawyer

Received this from the council I am registered with today (Windsor & Maidenhead). Looks like papers will be sent out 21st Nov, which may actually be a good enough timescale depending on Aus Post usually. Pretty sure the current MP will not be getting my vote!


Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: OVERSEAS VOTER DECLARATION

We are contacting you because you are currently registered to vote as a British citizen living overseas.

As you are most probably aware, a UK Parliamentary election will take place on Thursday 12 December. We are taking the opportunity to contact you to provide you with some important information about being able to cast your vote in this election as an elector based overseas.

Overseas electors are strongly advised to put in place absent voting arrangements (either postal or proxy voting) as this is the best voting method if you are living overseas.

Postal Voting

The deadline for applying to vote by post in this election is 5pm on Tuesday 26 November. Applications must reach the Electoral Registration Officer by this date. Applications can be accessed online at https://www.electoralcommission.org....verseas-voters

If you currently have postal vote arrangements and these were put in place by Wednesday 30 October, your postal vote will be despatched on Thursday 21 November. It is not possible to send postal votes earlier than this date as we will not know who is standing for election until 14 November and our printers require time to produce the ballot papers and postal vote packs.

If you do not currently have postal vote arrangements in place but are considering voting by post by submitting an application to be received by 26 November, your postal vote will be despatched on Thursday 28 November.

You should consider whether these timeframes allow you sufficient time to receive, complete and post back your postal vote for it to be received by 10pm on polling day, if you choose to vote by post.

Proxy Voting

The deadline for appointing a proxy to vote on your behalf in this election is 5pm on Wednesday 4 December. Applications must reach the Electoral Registration Officer by this date. Applications can be accessed online at https://www.electoralcommission.org....verseas-voters

You may consider that voting by proxy would be a more suitable method of voting for you. Electoral Services strongly recommends that you consider voting by proxy as an alternative to voting by post as we will not be able to despatch your postal vote any earlier than Thursday 28 November if you do not currently have a postal vote in place.

If you have already sent us a postal vote application form and would prefer to vote by proxy instead, you may do so but you will need to ask us to cancel your postal vote application by 5pm on Thursday 26 November and apply to vote by proxy by 5pm on Monday 4 December. You can cancel your postal vote by writing to us at [email protected], stating your full name, qualifying address, and date of birth and stating ‘PLEASE CANCEL POSTAL VOTE’ in the subject line.

Yours sincerely,

jack the miller

Just got a note from the council (how long did that take?). There are 2 choices - postal vote or nominate a proxy (i.e. family member) to vote for you. Option B is recommended but isn't going to work for us. Forms attached.

So even though I registered to vote overseas on their website, they are now sending me a form so that I can register again. FFS.

PittwaterPrincess

No. I don't live there any more, so I should have no say in who runs the country or how they do it.