Scottish Servicemen Set to Miss Out On Election

11.57.23am GMT Mon 1st Mar 2010

Changes to voting rules which would help ensure Scottish servicemen and women operating abroad have the opportunity to vote in the forthcoming General Election are required urgently, according to local MP Alistair Carmichael.

Current regulations mean that there are only 11 days in which postal ballots can be printed, dispatched and returned to be included in constituency counts. Mr Carmichael is concerned that this could leave thousands of people serving in the armed forces overseas unable to register their vote.Alistair Carmichael MP: Orkney & Shetland

Mr Carmichael is backing a Liberal Democrat motion calling for the General Election timetable to be brought into line with that for local elections, where candidates are nominated 16 days before polling day. It is hoped that this change would help ease logistical difficulties.

This is the most recent initiative aimed at improving the way that the Government treats current and former members of the armed forces that Mr Carmichael has supported. Last month, he co-sponsored a Parliamentary Bill that would have forced Ministers to improve the level of services offered to veterans around the UK.

Commenting, Mr Carmichael said:

‘The level of commitment that we now expect members of the armed forces to undertake overseas means that this has become a real problem for many in a way that it never has before.

‘It seems wrong to me that a timetable that is entirely in the control of the Government should operate in such a way as potentially to exclude servicemen from exercising their right to vote.

‘The change required would not big a massive one, but it would be a powerful signal to those serving overseas that the Government regards their needs as being as important as those of the population back home.’

Notes:

The full text of EDM 862 is as follows:

ARMED FORCES VOTING

10.02.2010

Harvey, Nick

That this House expresses concern that a third of service personnel are not currently registered to vote; notes the difficulties which many servicemen and women experience in voting; further notes that the extremely tight timetable for a general election with candidates only being nominated 11 days before polling day, does not leave enough time thereafter for postal ballot papers to be printed, distributed to service personnel deployed abroad, particularly those who are at present in Afghanistan, and returned in time to be included in constituency counts; and calls on the Government to amend the timetable for general elections to match the local election timetable, with candidates being nominated 16 days before polling day, thus easing the logistical barrier to service personnel exercising their right to vote.