Voting Rights - Our Survey Results

As we explain on our voting rights pages whilst the Elections Act 2022 repealed the so-called 15-year rule and restored voting rights to all UK citizens, secondary legislation is needed to implement the Act and set out the procedures for re-registering and voting at the next UK general election.

As part of its voting rights project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, British in Europe ran a survey from January to March 2023. We wanted to understand the previous voting experiences of the UK diaspora and to see how easy currently disenfranchised UK electors overseas would find it to produce the documentation needed to prove their last place of residence and/or last place of registration on the electoral roll in the UK.

It turned out that the British diaspora was very keen to share its thoughts with us. We received over 7100 completed responses from 65 countries and crown dependencies. The responses revealed an engaged population of British citizens who value their voting rights and who intend to use them once the secondary legislation is adopted (almost 60% of respondents cannot vote at the moment). Most will find it easy to prove their identity but 18% could not produce any of the government’s suggested documentation to prove last place of residence. This figure was as high as 60% depending on age and the date of emigration from the UK. Half of respondents had previously voted by post but only 64% of them had found that experience to be a smooth one. Less than 30% had used a proxy vote in the past. There are lessons to be learned not just in relation to the voting experiences of UK citizens overseas but also UK voters resident in the UK.

Based on the responses to the survey and open text comments, BiE compiled a number of recommendations and sent them to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which has responsibility for elections. The government estimated in its Elections Bill impact assessment 2021 that up to 3.4 million UK citizens living overseas could be entitled to vote once the secondary legislation is adopted. This survey is the largest and widest run on the topic in over a decade and possibly ever. We very much hope that its findings and recommendations will be taken fully into account by the government as it drafts the secondary legislation. The British diaspora wants its voting rights back, wants to be able to re-register to vote with ease and wants its votes to count at the next general election.

The report can be read in full below.

06 June 2023