The Londoner: EU citizens face a voting headache

EU citizens living in the UK have to undergo a two-step process to register to vote in the elections, a system which was blamed in 2014 for what they said was a steep drop in the number of EU nationals eligible to vote. Now it emerges that despite promising in 2014 to act on this, the Electoral Commission has not made any changes to the system, risking the same problem. In 2014 the Electoral Commission promised it would “identify what can be done to simplify the system and remove unnecessary administrative barriers to participation… at the next European Parliament elections in 2019”. Today a commission spokesman explained that it was “not something we looked at” after the Government told it, following the 2016 referendum, that the UK would not be participating in the European elections. Axel Antoni, a spokesman for the3Million campaigning group of EU citizens, blasted both the Government and the Electoral Commission. “It’s disappointing that the UK makes it so hard for EU citizens to register,” he said, but added it was “a bit disingenuous” of the Electoral Commission to blame Brexit. “Between 2014 and 2016 what did they do to make it better? Nothing.” EU citizens must register to vote as normal and, for the European elections, also complete a form stating they are not voting elsewhere in Europe.