Voting in the EU referendum overseas
Voting in the EU referendum overseas
The EU Referendum is coming! If you are a UK citizen, you can register to vote in elections in the UK no matter where you are.
Fact: over 106,000 overseas electors registered to vote
Can overseas voters register and vote?
If you are a UK citizen living abroad, you can apply to be an overseas voter.
CRITICAL: You must have been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years and be eligible to vote in UK Parliamentary general elections and European Parliamentary elections along with knowing your National Insurance number and D.O.B (Date Of Birth)
However If you were too young to vote when you left the United Kingdom, you still have the ability to register as an overseas voter. As long as your parent or guardian was registered to vote in the UK, as long as you left the UK no more than 15 years ago.
How can I register?
To register to vote in the mainland UK (England, Scotland, Wales), you can register online any time at this address:
If you are however outside the UK mainland, (Northern Ireland), you will need to visit the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland website to download the form needed to register.
Elections and referendums can I vote in?
If you are already registered as an overseas voter, you have the ability to vote in the following elections in the UK:
EU referendum
Referendum will take place on Thursday 23 June 2016.
In What Ways Can I Vote?
You can choose your method of voting depending on your personal circumstances.
In 2014 the way we register to vote changed, and if you want to vote by post or by proxy you must be registered under the new system. To check if you're correctly registered, contact the local authority of the address you are registered to.
To find the contact details for your local electoral registration office, enter your postcode in the Your local area section of our homepage.
Voting by post
If you live abroad you can apply to vote by post.You need to make sure you have time to receive and return your ballot papers by polling day. If you don't think you can return them in time, you may want to consider voting by proxy.
To check when postal votes are being sent out contact the local authority of the address you are registered to. To find the contact details for your local electoral registration office, enter your postcode in the Your local area section of our homepage.
Find out more about voting by post
Voting by proxy
If you're abroad you can apply to vote by proxy. This means you can appoint someone to vote on your behalf. Both you and the person you appoint as your proxy must be registered under the new system.
Find out more about voting by proxy
Voting in person
If you happen to be in the UK on election day, you can always vote in person at a polling station.
However, if you have appointed a proxy you can only do this if your proxy has not already voted on your behalf. If you have a postal vote, you cannot be issued with a ballot paper in the polling station but you can hand in your completed postal ballot at the polling station.
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