This in from the office of Isle of Wight Conservative MP, Andrew Turner. Ed
The Island’s MP, Andrew Turner, expressed concern this week that of the 3.5 million British people living abroad who are entitled to register to vote, only 30,768 people are actually on the register.
Last Thursday in the House of Commons Mr Turner asked Mr Gary Streeter MP, representing the Speakers’ Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many people living overseas are eligible to register and, of those, how many are listed to vote but are too late to get a vote through the post.
Mr Turner said:
“With the General Election only 6 months away it is vital that everyone entitled to vote has the opportunity to exercise that right. I felt it was important to find out how many British people living abroad were registered to vote and when I received this information I was quite astounded.
“However, there is some good news – overseas voters can now register to vote online, rather than having to rely on the post. Therefore I hope any Islanders who has family or friends living overseas encourages them to register online as soon as possible to ensure they don’t miss their opportunity to vote.”
British citizens living abroad can register as overseas voters if they have been registered to vote in the UK at any time within the past 15 years, either with a postal vote or by appointing a proxy to vote for them.
Image: sundaykofax under a CC BY 2.0 license
