EU elections: voter registration
EU citizens living in the St Albans District are reminded how to secure their vote for elections next month to the European Parliament.
With the UK not having left the EU yet, the elections are now due to take place on Thursday 23 May.
To be eligible to vote in the UK, EU citizens must complete a European Parliament Voter Registration Form known as a UC1.
These forms were sent to just over 5,000 EU citizens on the St Albans’ Electoral Register and the deadline for their return is midnight on Tuesday 7 May.
By filling in the form, EU citizens are agreeing to vote in the UK only and not in their home country. It is only permissible to vote in one country.
Any EU citizen resident in the District who was not sent a form can obtain one from the elections team at St Albans City and District Council on 01727 819294 or elections@stalbans.gov.uk.
British citizens also have until Tuesday 7 May to register to vote for the EU elections. Those who are eligible to vote in this year’s District Council elections and whose details have not changed will still be registered.
It barely takes five minutes to register at your current address by going online at www.gov.uk/registertovote.
Mike Lovelady, the Council’s Electoral Registration Officer, said:
We are preparing for European Parliamentary elections on the 23rd of May.
I would point out that EU citizens living in the District must complete a UC1 form by the 7th May if they wish to vote in the UK even if they are on the electoral register. There is only a short time left for them to complete this task.
Voters who are unable to get to a polling station on 23 May can apply to vote by post or proxy.
The deadline for postal vote applications is 5pm on Wednesday 8 May and to vote by proxy, it is 5pm on Wednesday 15 May.
Forms to apply to vote by post or proxy are available from the Council’s elections office or at the Electoral Commission’s website www.yourvotematters.co.uk.
Poll cards will be sent out from Thursday 25 April and postal votes will be dispatched on Wednesday 8 May.
The European Parliament is currently made up of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who are elected by 28 European Union member countries including 73 from the UK.
The St Albans District is part of the Eastern constituency which returns seven MEPs by proportional representation rather than the first past the post system.
Details of the political parties’ lists of candidates will be available by 5pm on 25 April.
For more information about the elections in the St Albans District, please see: www.stalbans.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/.
Contact for the media:
John McJannet,
Principal Communications Officer,
St Albans City and District Council.
Tel: 01727-296130
E-mail: john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk
Note:
To be eligible to vote at the EU elections in the UK you must be registered and 18 years of age or over on polling day; a British citizen, qualifying Commonwealth citizen, or citizen of the EU; resident in the UK; a UK citizen living abroad who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years; and not subject to any legal incapacity to vote.