Number of UK Ex Pats living in EU with right to vote in EU Referendum

The request was partially successful.

Dear Electoral Commission,

I write to enquire how many UK citizens living in other EU countries were entitled to vote in the EU Referendum and how many complaints were received from those who did not receive their ballot papers in time to register a vote.

Yours faithfully,

John Chambers

FOI, Electoral Commission

Dear John Chambers,

 

 

Our Ref: FOI 162/16

 

Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 dated
07 December 2016, concerning:

 

How many UK citizens living in other EU countries were entitled to vote in
the EU Referendum and how many complaints were received from those who did
not receive their ballot papers in time to register a vote.

 

The Commission aims to respond to requests for information promptly and
within the statutory timeframe of twenty working days.

 

You may expect to receive a reply sent from the Commission by 9 January
2017

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Vanessa Asante

Information Officer

The Electoral Commission

3 Bunhill Row

London EC1Y 8YZ

Tel: 020 7271 0569

[1]www.electoralcommission.org.uk

 

Putting voters first

 

You can now [2]register to vote online

 

Follow us on [3]Twitter | Like us on [4]Facebook | Read our [5]Blog

 

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References

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1. http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/
2. http://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
3. https://twitter.com/ElectoralCommUK
4. https://www.facebook.com/electoralcommis...
5. http://ukelectoralcommission.wordpress.c...

FOI, Electoral Commission

Dear John Chambers,

 

Our Ref: FOI 163/16

 

Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 dated
07 December 2016.

 

The Commission aims to respond to requests for information promptly and
[has done so within the statutory timeframe of twenty working days.

 

Your request is in bold below followed by our response.

 

You have requested:

 

How many UK citizens living in other EU countries were entitled to vote in
the EU Referendum and how many complaints were received from those who did
not receive their ballot papers in time to register a vote.

 

Our response:

 

We do not have the exact figures for the number of UK citizens living in
EU countries that were entitled to vote – although I can confirm that
there were a total of 135,396 overseas voters registered for the
referendum.

 

In order for UK citizens living overseas to vote, they need to have
appeared on a UK electoral register within the past 15 years. Following
this they will need to register as an overseas voter under the local
authority they were last registered to vote under while living in the UK.
The Electoral registers are prepared and maintained at a local level by
Electoral Registration Officers at each local authority, for information
on how many UK citizens living in EU (as opposed to other) countries were
registered to vote you will need to contact each Electoral Registration
Officer as the Commission does not hold this information centrally.

 

We do hold information relevant to the other part of your request.

 

I can confirm that, between 23 June and 3 October this year the
Commission’s public information team records show that we received a total
of 160 emails and 8 letters from electors that had problems with their
postal ballots.  At the time of writing, the last date the Commission
received a complaint regarding postal ballots at the referendum was 3
October.

 

I can also confirm that the Commission received 49 calls about postal
votes between 23 June and 3 August.

 

Unfortunately the Commission is unable to provide details of the enquiries
broken down by local authority area as our records do not capture
information in this format, nor is it the case that all complainants would
necessarily refer to specific authorities.

 

I trust that this information satisfies your request. The Commission
strives to be an open, transparent authority.

 

I thought I would also take this opportunity to highlight that, as part of
our statutory responsibilities, the Commission produced a report on the
conduct of the EU referendum. This report included reference to: the
processes put in place to help the postal ballot process run as
effectively as possible (page 64-66); our analysis of some of the problems
that occurred in this area (page 80 – 81); and our recommendations for
change (page 88). You can find this report on our website here -
[1]http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__...

If you are not satisfied with this response, please note that the
Commission operates a review procedure, details of which can be found on
the Commission website at:
[2]http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/ab...

 

Please also note that if you have exhausted all internal Commission review
procedures and you are still not satisfied you have the right to appeal to
the Information Commissioner. Details of this procedure can be found on
the ICO website: [3]http://www.ico.gov.uk

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

Vanessa Asante

Information Officer

The Electoral Commission

3 Bunhill Row

London EC1Y 8YZ

Tel: 020 7271 0569

[4]www.electoralcommission.org.uk

 

Putting voters first

 

You can now [5]register to vote online

 

Follow us on [6]Twitter | Like us on [7]Facebook | Read our [8]Blog

 

P   Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__...
2. http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/ab...
3. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
4. http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/
5. http://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
6. https://twitter.com/ElectoralCommUK
7. https://www.facebook.com/electoralcommis...
8. http://ukelectoralcommission.wordpress.c...