The Cross-Party Group on Overseas Voters has just published its report into ways to enhance engagement in the electoral process by British expatriates.
The key recommendations of the report, “Making Votes Count”, are -
- A Cabinet Office Minister should be given specific responsibility for co-ordinating all Government Departments to increase radically the take-up of overseas voting.
- The Electoral Commission should devote more resources to registering citizens living abroad and be given a target of 100,000 registered voters.
- There should be more data sharing by public bodies to identify citizens living overseas along with dissemination of information about eligibility to vote.
- There should be a greater use of social and other media for disseminating information about eligibility and the means of voting.
- The Foreign Office as well as embassies and consulates should emphasise the civic duty of voting and ensure that expatriate voters are valued as British citizens.
- The Government should undertake a feasibility study of electronic voting, with a possible trial of such voting in areas with high levels of expatriate voters.
The group, chaired by Conservative Peer Lord Norton, was established following debates in both Houses on the Electoral Registration and Administration Bill in the 2012-13 session of Parliament. It became clear during those debates that there was a serious problem of non-registration by British citizens living abroad.
The inquiry spanned the course of a year and took evidence from Ministers and others, including Heather Harper, chairman of Conservatives Abroad.
You can read the full report below