VOTING IN UPCOMING REFERENDUM EU

[capetonian101]

Is my understanding correct that commonwealth citizens who resident in the uk will be able to vote in june 23?

[sandy88]

Yes

[secret.simon]

Everybody who is eligible to vote in a General Election is eligible to vote in the EU referendum.

So, British and Commonwealth citizens over the age of 18 who are resident in the UK (on a non-visitor visa) are eligible to vote, provided they are registered to vote.

British citizens resident abroad (such as Spain, for example) can register as an overseas voter for up to 15 years after leaving the UK, as long as they were registered to vote in the UK within the previous 15 years (or, in some cases, if they were too young to have registered when they left the UK).

The only EU citizens who would be able to vote (apart from dual citizens) are Irish, Cypriot and Maltese citizens.

[Obie]

Is my understanding correct that commonwealth citizens who resident in the uk will be able to vote in june 23?

In theory your understanding your understanding is perfectly correct.

However I must warn you that in the last General election, the conservatives sought to disenfranchised the commonwealth citizens vote by asking for their NI numbers and under requirements designed to disenfranchise this category of voters, for obvious reasons.

[secret.simon]

Honestly, Obie, you see a conspiracy in everything.

The way voters get registered changed in 2015, from the head of the household registering everyone in their care to individual voter registration. That change applied to all people who could be registered to vote and was not targeted at depriving Commonwealth citizens of the right to vote, though it will be fun and games when the ONS releases voter registration figures for existing constituencies tomorrow.

Applying for a National Insurance Number is not difficult and everybody who is eligible to legally work or study (they don't have to be actually doing it, just be eligible to do it) can get one.

And you don't even need to register through the website. Just use the paper form that is sent out by local electoral authorities annually. To the best of my recollection, that does not require a NINO.

[Obie]

OP please find attached the Voter Registration form

Prior to the 2015 election it was not a requirement for a person from Commonwealth States to have leave to remain, it suffices that they are common wealth and residing in the UK, their immigration status was irrelevant.

In 2015, the requirement for them to have Leave to remain was imposed and the requirement to have National Insurance was imposed, and people who were previously allowed to vote and have for one reason or the other don't have leave were disenfranchised in the 2015 election.

The intention was certainly not to prevent fraud, it will be delusional for one to make such suggestion.

It may well be the case, and i know of some commonwealth citizens that have been registered to vote, without leave to Remain, but the application itself states that we will check, and if you don't have leave, you will not be registered to vote. This is clearly new, it never existed before.

I live it to the expert contributor to suggest why it was implemented. I will take my leave.

[secret.simon]

Let me get this straight. Your gripe about the new process is that earlier Commonwealth citizens who were in the UK illegally or on visit visas(ones without leave to remain) could vote and now they can't. Is that it? Not what I expected from a responsible moderator.

I take it that you think likewise of the tightening of the "good character" requirement to include immigration crimes in December 2014 and that breaking immigration laws should not be counted for the purposes of "good character"?

[ohara]

My personal opinion is that I find it a bit crap that despite spending my whole life in the UK, a country I consider my home, I cannot vote in this referendum, despite one of the possible outcomes having potentially serious ramifications for me.

[Casa]

My understanding of the request for an NI number is for ease of identification...hence the statement that it may take longer to process without an NI reference. Am I missing something?
I'm not sure that any country would permit illegal residents to cast their vote in an election or referendum, but I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm mistaken.
Surely, neither would they want to....easy way for the authorities to trace them.

[Obie]

Well Casa with the utmost respect we are not talking about other country. We are talking about the UK and the legacy of its empire and the commonwealth system.

From the 1918 Representation of the People's act, the right to vote in a UK election was bestowed on Commonwealth citizen residing in the UK , without any further requirements.

That right has alway been given on there.

If a commonwealth citizen has an asylum claim pending for 6 years, he or she is clearly residing in the UK and must be allowed to participate.

If a common wealth citizen is on Temporary admission, he or she's right to vote is unhindered.

It has never been the position either in statute or secondary legislation that these people must also have leave in order to qualify.

The right originates on the basis that the citizens of the commonwealth , are subject of the Queen , by virtue of holding that status, and therefore are entitled to participate in her elections. .


You may be uncomfortable with that notion. But that was the law and how it was operated since 1918, until it was changed, not by primary or secondary legislation, but policy.

[Casa]

Points noted Obie, but I'm still unsure where in the Registration form it specifically states that they are no longer eligible?

[chriskv1]

Points noted Obie, but I'm still unsure where in the Registration form it specifically states that they are no longer eligible?

This is next to the column where it asks for nationality.

You can only register to vote in the
UK if you have leave to remain. We
may check your immigration status
with the Home Office before we
include you on the electoral register

[Obie]

If you look at the top of page 2 of the form I cited above.

It says you can only be registered if you have leave to remain in the UK. No exception is made, to people who don't require leave or on temporary admission or release or an asylum seeker awaiting determination on their asylum claim.

That is clearly against the spirit and letter of the Representation of the People's act 1918.

That was the point I was seeking to make. But I appreciate that it is a point that was difficult to comprehend by some contributors .

[Casa]

Ah! We're not all as well-read as you Obie

[secret.simon]

The Representation Of the People Act 1918 was repealed in its entirety in 1985 by an Act of the same name.

The current law on elections & electoral rules is the Representation of the People Act 1983.

The requirement that a Commonwealth citizen must have leave to remain was inserted by Tony Blair's government in 2000 through Section 1(2) of the Representation of the People Act 2000.

Section 4(6) of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (as amended by Section 1(2) of the Act of the same name in 2000) now states;

“qualifying Commonwealth citizen” means a Commonwealth citizen who either—
(a) is not a person who requires leave under the Immigration Act 1971 to enter or remain in the United Kingdom, or
(b) is such a person but for the time being has (or is, by virtue of any enactment, to be treated as having) any description of such leave;

I have taken your advice to widen my reading and found it excellent. I recommend that you follow your own advice too.

[Obie]

Ah! We're not all as well-read as you Obie

Please don't embarrass me Casa . I am always reading and learning and I you will be surprised how much I have learnt from you guys.

Just the other day you respectfully corrected me when I was in a muddle with the 1981 act .

[Obie]

Simon my primary purpose of being in this forum is to help people and not to score point.

Points are scored in court and Tribunal not at an immigration board.

You make people get the impression that I am bullying a contributor , when in actual fact it appear that you are deliberately seeking a reaction from me.

Some of your posts, I have simply restrained myself from replying.

There are 2 problems with your post.

1. The 1983 act did not repeal the whole of the representation of the people Act 1918. It only repeal section 19 and 43 of that act.

2. The 2000 act does not in any way state that a person without leave must not be registered.

That is clearly at variance with an application form that explicitly state, we will check with the Home Office and we will not register you if you do not have leave to remain.


Tony Blair clearly did not put that law.

[akz]

WoW I like this

"'Don't pay too much attention to fame, power or money. Some day you'll meet a person who cares for none of these, and then you'll know how poor you are.'"

I had too much attention to my current issues, I am leaving it on God and going to live my life now and will be back with the feed back about my case to help others.

regards everyone
akz

[Amber]

Qualifying Commonwealth citizen does not include persons in the UK illegally.

Moreover, practically, I would be very surprised if any over-stayer actually registered on the electoral roll, highlighting yourself to the authorities is not what an over-stayer will usually do.

[Starnes]

I think a lot of people responding here may not realise that, until the 60's, being Commonwealth meant you could come here without restriction.

There has since been continuous restrictions placed on Commonwealth immigration since then. A good read about it can be found here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 9.app1/pdf

The effect of which, has been to drive a wedge between Commonwealth nations, I can only speak from my experience having been born in a Commonwealth realm that there is little desire to build upon the Commonwealth, I am the only one from my country that I am aware of that would like this, most want to break away from colonial vestiges such as the queen and the Union flag.

I see a similar thing happening with the UK now in relations to the EU. It rather disheartens me to see a country that has given so much to the world keeps marginalising itself.