A Bracknell man living in South Korea was denied the chance to vote in the European elections after the council failed to send out his voting forms in time.
Scott Little, who has been living in East Asia since 2012, only received his forms on Thursday, May 23 – the day of the election.
This meant he could not get his forms back to the authority in time in order to vote.
Timothy Wheadon, Chief Executive of Bracknell Forest Council (BFC), said the authority ‘apologised to anyone’ who ‘feels they may have been let down by the system regarding postal voting in the European elections’.
Despite this, BFC claimed it only received one complaint from 220 electors living outside the UK but the Chief Executive added the council would undertake a ‘thorough investigation’ to review if any changes would be necessary.
Speaking to the News, Scott said: “Obviously, I feel disappointed by this. I think councils should give governments and the electoral commission a very clear timeline on how long they need to send out the voter forms and receive them.
Read also: Brexit Party posters removed from traffic lights and lamp posts before European elections
“I find it hard to believe other overseas voters registered in Bracknell Forest Council didn’t experience the same problems considering they only sent the voter forms out 9 days before the election.
“I have also been told by French and South African co-workers that they can vote at their embassy in Seoul for elections. Why can’t we do the same?”
#EUelections2019 It looks like i have been denied my vote. I live in South korea, received my ballot today which is too late to be posted back. @BracknellForest
— scott (@ScottLittle85) 23 May 2019
All my friends in the UK- please vote today. #DeniedMyVote
Scott lived in Bracknell between 1994-2003 and returned to live in the borough after finishing university in 2009.
He left for Incheon, South Korea three years later to work as an English teacher, where he has been since.
The former Bracknell resident said he found he was not the only one having trouble receiving voting forms in time.
He added: “I have other British friends (from other parts of the UK) in Korea who also found the same difficulties receiving their voting cards on time.
“I raised a formal complaint with the council after not receiving my voting paper until election day and then seeing the ‘#deniedmyvote’ hashtag trending on Twitter,” he said, “the hashtag showed stories of other Brits expats voting via post receiving their voting forms late.”
Polling stations are open until 10pm this evening for the European Elections. Please see your poll card for details of your polling station or visit https://t.co/ss4vZGBdb4 pic.twitter.com/I3t8EQCvt2
— Bracknell Forest (@BracknellForest) 23 May 2019
In a statement, Timothy Wheadon continued: “This is a national issue caused by extremely tight timescales.
“Our team has worked tirelessly to meet all deadlines and dates set by electoral law in two elections, local and European, within three weeks of each other.
“An election of this scale requires us to comply with numerous statutory deadlines and normally takes months to plan.
“Despite the challenges posed by the very late decision to hold the European parliamentary election, I can confirm that all-postal ballots, including those for electors who live abroad, were sent within the dates specified.”
Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party claimed massive victories in the EU Parliamentary elections – including in the South East region.
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