#DeniedMyVote: EU election day chaos as British expats can’t vote due to forms arriving late while EU citizens in UK are turned away at polls
- Brits living overseas elsewhere in the EU have not been sent voting forms
- And EU citizens in the UK report being turned away from polling stations
- 500 million EU citizens go to the polls starting today but British MEPs may never take their seats
British citizens living overseas in other EU countries will be denied a vote in today’s European elections – because councils failed to send their postal voting ballots in time.
Meanwhile there are reports of voters from other EU countries resident in the UK being turned away from polling stations.
Both disenfranchised groups have taken to Twitter to protest, using the hashtag #DeniedMyVote.
It comes as 500 million citizens across the EU begin going to the polls to cast ballots for the European Parliament.
In the UK, the newly-formed Brexit Party is expected to take more seats than any other and the Conservatives have crumbled to just seven per cent in the latest poll.
Voting for the European Parliament began today in the UK and runs until Sunday across the EU
The UK goes to the polls today between 7am and 10pm.
Brits living in Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and United States contacted the BBC to say their postal votes had either arrived too late or not arrived at all.
Expat voters who want to participate in European elections can register in advance to have a postal vote in the British constituency where they or their parents were last registered to vote, but must have their completed ballot paper returned to the local electoral returning officer by the time polls close on election day.
Many of the councils whose voters’ ballots arrived late used a print and delivery firm Adare, rather than Royal Mail, to send out the forms.
The Telegraph reported that several of the councils who subcontracted the task to Adare are in predominantly Brexit supporting areas, including Barnsley, Doncaster, Calderdale and Northumberland.
Others where overseas voters have complained of delays include Gloucester, Darlington, Canterbury, Monmouthshire and Newcastle upon Tyne.
EU citizens living in the UK are taking to Twitter in droves to complain they have been turned away from the polls having not been given – or warned about – the proper documentation
Many of the postal votes were sent by Adare via the Netherlands, regardless of their final destination, as evidenced by the stamp ‘postnl’ which is visible on envelopes received late by furious voters.
It is feared that thousands of British voters in France and Spain in particular could be affected by the delays, based on the number of overseas voters on the UK electoral register, which in 2017 totalled more than 285,000.
Meanwhile in the UK EU citizens are reporting being turned away from the polls despite having checked they could participate.
Twitter user Agata Patyna wrote: ‘Turned away from polling station this morning. Told I should vote in my EU member state.
‘Called local council yesterday, they confirmed I could vote. Called again today.
‘Apparently council had no time to send out forms to all EU residents. Nothing they can do now #DeniedMyVote’
The electoral commission has said the dispatch of overseas ballots is not within its purview, and the commission told MailOnline that EU residents in the UK were required under UK and EU law to have completed a form by May 7.
But online many seemed to have been unaware with one user writing: ‘I’ve been turned away from the polling station saying I’m not eligible to vote despite the fact I’ve got a polling card received and have registered too. My local council @EastHantsDC failed to send out the declaration form…#EUelections2019 #DeniedMyVote’
And Antonio Portas Tweeted: ‘I was denied the right to vote in the UK even though I registered on time. Apparently there is a hidden 2nd form for EU residents in the UK. Information on official website is practically non existent #deniedmyvote’