Tri-Service

Deadline To Register For EU Vote Extended

Deadline To Register For EU Vote At Midnight

The deadline for registering to vote in the EU referendum has been extended, giving people one last chance to have their say if not already registered. The original deadline passed at midnight.

The EU vote itself will take place on June 23rd this year, but there are deadlines before that date in order to prepare to vote.

Matt Hancock, Minister for Cabinet Office and Paymaster General said:

"Following discussions with the Electoral Commission and strong cross party support expressed in the House of Commons, we will introduce secondary legislation to extend the deadline for voter registration until midnight tomorrow.

"Having taken the decision today, we think it is right to extend to midnight tomorrow (9 June) to allow people who have not yet registered time to get the message that registration is still open and get themselves registered."

It comes after tens of thousands of people failed to get onto the government's website last night after technical problems.

For a member of the armed forces there are two steps to voting: 1). Register to vote (if you haven’t done so already); and 2). Send in your postal vote or arrange your proxy vote.

Visit aboutmyvote.co.uk to find out who can vote and how to vote as a service voter.

Registering:

If you have already registered to vote then the EU referendum will work like any other election – vote by proxy, by post, or in person (if you are based on the UK) as you normally would.

You can visit aboutmyvote.co.uk’s registration page to register, or call 020 7271 0592.

Voting:

If you are based in the UK, you can vote in person on June 23rd at your local polling station.

If you are based overseas, you may either do a postal vote, or a vote by proxy (using someone else to cast a vote for you).

To set up either of these two options, you should visit aboutmyvote.co.uk’s main site (click off the EU referendum square if it pops up) and enter your UK postcode to get the contact information for your local authority.

The website for the local authority should provide information on how to set up a postal or proxy vote.

The deadline for applying to vote by post is today, June 8th, at 5pm – your local authority will then send the relevant papers to you.

Because of this narrow window, it might be advantageous to vote by proxy instead, as the deadline for setting this up is June 15th, at 5pm.

Usually you will be required to print out a form from your local authority’s website and fill in the information about your proxy voter before signing to authorise this.

Local authorities differ on whether they will accept a scanned version of the form or only the original form posted in – contact them by phone or email to seek guidance if needed.

Other advice:

You can ask your unit registration officer if you have questions.

Information for unit registration officers is at the bottom of the aboutmyvote.co.uk page.

No matter where you stand on the issue of EU membership, it is important to take steps to vote.