Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 47
47
Acknowledged
Insufficient data available on overseas voters and their successful participation in elections.
Conclusion
We are concerned at the paucity of data available on overseas voters, and how many of them were successfully able to vote. (Conclusion, Paragraph 122)
Government Response Summary
The government states its commitment to encouraging full participation for overseas voters and mentions that systems for them were considered in a recent review. It notes the Committee's recommendations on mechanisms but does not commit to collecting more data on overseas voters or their successful participation.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
This Government is committed to encouraging full participation by legitimate voters in our elections. Fixing the foundations of our elections delivery processes, including making changes to help build more resilience into the postal voting system, will benefit all administrators and voters, including those living overseas. Overseas electors continue to be able to vote by proxy, post or in person, and proxy voters are also able to acquire postal votes. Systems and processes for overseas electors were in scope of our recently concluded Review of Electoral Registration and Conduct and were considered by the Review’s Working and Steering Groups as part of this process. The Government notes the Committee’s recommendations on considering the mechanisms available to overseas electors to support them to vote. Regarding the possibility of whether UK citizens living abroad could vote in UK elections at local consular and embassy buildings, there are concerns that this approach would result in significant logistical and administrative burdens that could compromise the efficiency and expediency of elections. This includes how ballot papers for all 650 constituencies would be made available at embassies and how votes would then be counted in a timely manner. Importantly, allowing voting in embassies would remove direct control of the process from Returning Officers, and may limit the opportunity for effective oversight and scrutiny of electoral processes. Proposals relating to introducing telephone-based assisted voting for overseas electors were also raised by the Committee. This would be a significant change to voting at UK elections and would raise a number of technical and logistical issues, which would need to be worked through further to ascertain whether such a process would be viable. While th