General Elections

[JeremyR 8]

Since it's starting to look like Britain's going to be having one in the really not too distant future, I started looking into what is allowed and what the requirements are for a casting a vote from overseas.

According to DirectGov, any British citizen abroad can vote for up to 15 years after they were last on the electoral role in the UK but realistically, you must vote by proxy and your application must be counter-signed by a second British citizen living abroad which seems a bit of a pain in the butt if you don't know another over here well enough to ask them to do that... Then of course there's the matter of finding someone to vote on your behalf back home - it all seems over complicated, almost designed to make overseas voting a little less attractive.

Has anyone ever gone to the hassle of setting all this up and voting by proxy? Do you consider that it was worth it? I've never not voted in an election I'm eligible for (except last week's Euro poll) and would like to keep that record up but the rules do seem to be a hindrance.

[PAULUK 0]

Hi

Its a complete pain in the butt, my mom's was mayor of Newhaven and both her and my dad were local and district councillor's and when even they had trouble getting the information and documentation straight I decided never to bother again. You are right they make it so difficult and I believe they do that on purpose to keep the numbers down.

Thanks....................................Paul

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

It would be great if someone's done this before and could post their experiences, as I was looking into it and also confused.

After last the results of last week's elections I feel that not voting can have pretty dire consequences