Information on Voting in the upcoming UK General Election on 12 December 2019 if you are not resident in the UK
Voting is available if you are registered as an overseas voter and can be by post or proxy, if you are eligible. A general reminder – Eligibility for registration to vote a General Election = holding British or eligible Irish citizenship and you were registered to vote in the UK within the previous 15 years (or in some cases if you were too young to have registered when you left the UK). Registration has to be renewed every year and if it has not been renewed you will have been removed from the Register of Voters. It is never too late to register as an eligible voter if you have not already done so. General information on voting if you are not resident in the UK can be found on www.gov.uk/voting-when-abroad
If you are already registered or are going now to register –
Either – Postal voting for the upcoming General Election – If or when you are eligible to vote, please note that postal voting papers can only be sent to overseas voters once all printing of relevant ballot papers is finalized. For the upcoming General Election, legislation ties this to a set working day period following the 6 November 2019 official announcement of the election, during which time candidates for election are required to file their applications to stand within 19 working days. Checking and printing of all ballot and attendant paperwork has then to be undertaken before any postal voting documentation can be posted. If you want to use the postal vote option, the Government website states you need to apply to your Electoral Office by 5pm on 26 November to get your postal voting pack at your overseas address. Your postal vote must then arrive back at your Electoral Office in the UK by 10pm on 12 December.
Or – Proxy voting for upcoming General Election – Given postal voting documents can take a variable time to reach eligible voters overseas, anyone eligible to vote may wish to consider voting by proxy on this occasion. Details of that procedure can be found on www.gov.uk/government/collections/proxy-voting-application-forms and application must be received at your Electoral Office in the UK local by 5pm on 4 December 2019. Please also read carefully the conditions surrounding the nomination of a proxy voter.
Mavis Barrett
Information and Support Coordinator
British Residents Association in Malta
7 November 2019
