Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 48
48
Acknowledged
Create an overseas electoral register to record voter country, successful voting, and postal vote data.
Conclusion
As part of the reform to the electoral register, an overseas electoral register should be created and information about what country people are living in and data on whether they were successfully able to vote should be generated. In particular, the number of postal votes sent out and returned, including the number that arrived in the two weeks following the election, should in future be recorded. (Recommendation, Paragraph 122) Accessible voting
Government Response Summary
The government reiterates its commitment to overseas voters and notes that overseas elector systems were reviewed. It acknowledges the Committee's recommendations on considering mechanisms, but does not commit to creating a separate overseas electoral register or collecting the specific data points requested.
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