URGENT! Don't rely on Overseas Postal voting in UK General Election. Set a UK PROXY NOW.

brianoflondon (71)in #palnet • 5 years ago

I'm all set to have a vote in my fourth major election this year, I've voted in the first Israeli General Election, the EU Parliament Election called in the UK after the failure to Brexit in March and then a second Israeli Election.

TL;DR - Register a proxy vote with a UK resident or someone who lives in your old ward, to vote for you! Do it NOW.

First register to vote: Government Registration Site.
Contact your specific local Electoral Registration Office: enter your postcode here. You might need to search for "Electoral Services" or Registration on the site this sends you to.
Ask them about a "proxy vote". It is possible to allow your UK based Proxy vote to also vote by post.

My authority sent me the forms by email (we've corresponded that way before because that is how I registered) and I've sent them back now with details of the person I've nominated to vote for me (and who I must trust to vote the way I want!).

I was alerted to this because my specific office (Hillingdon) sent me an email a few weeks ago suggesting I do exactly this!
Brexit vote ballot papers 4.jpg

Back Story

I note that you currently have a postal vote in place. Whilst we do everything we can to ensure this reaches you as soon as possible, including prioritising the dispatch of overseas postal packs before all others, the very tight statutory timescales between the close of candidate nominations and the date of the election means that some overseas electors may not be able to return their completed packs by the deadline of 10pm on election day. Legislation does not currently permit us to email postal vote packs and there is no online voting facility for UK elections.

I would therefore urge you to consider whether a proxy vote would be a more appropriate absent voting method for you. If there is someone in the UK who you trust to cast a vote on your behalf in the polling station for your claim address in Hillingdon, then please complete and return the attached proxy vote form as soon as possible. Once set up, your proxy can then choose to request a postal proxy vote from us so even if they do not live near your polling station they can still vote on your behalf by post.

Last night the UK Parliament called another General Election in the UK for December 12th. Back when the EU Parliamentary Election suddenly became necessary because of the failure of Theresa May's Government to pass Brexit, the UK's regional Electoral Services were thrown a real hospital pass (Rugby term) with trying to get the forms out to overseas voters like me.

I got my EU papers the day before the vote, unless I'd have FedEx'd them back to the UK at huge personal expense, there was no way my vote would count.

As I do want to make sure I get my say this time, I took the advice in the email. I have now filled in two extremely simple 1 page forms, one to pass my vote on to a proxy and another with details of the proxy.

I've emailed those back to Hillingdon and I expect they will acknowledge receipt and as fast as they can they'll email my voting papers to my proxy and he can vote on my behalf by post.

Please spread this around, far and wide!

BrianofLondon.me