to vote an election a person should be above the age of 18.
to vote an election a person should be above the age of 18.
to vote an election a person should be above the age of?
18
today the house of commons is the primary organ of representative government. the representation of the people act 1983 section 1 gives the right to vote for mp in the house of commons to all commonwealth citizens, and citizens of the republic of ireland, who are over age 18, and registered. sections 3 and 4 exclude people who are convicted of an offence and in a penal institution, or detained under mental health laws. these restrictions fall below european standards, which require that people who are convicted of very minor crimes (such as petty theft or drug offences) have the right to vote. since 2013, everyone has to register individually to vote (for instance, at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote), instead of households being able to register collectively, but an annual household canvass is conducted to increase the number of registered people. as far back as 1703,"ashby v white" recognised the right to "vote at the election of a person to represent him or [her] in parliament, there to concur to the making of laws, which are to bind his liberty and property" as "a most transcendent thing, and of an high nature". this originally meant that any interference in that right would lead to damages. if the denial of voting would have changed the result, or if a vote was "conducted so badly that it was not substantially in accordance with the law" the vote would have to be run again. so, in "morgan v simpson" the court of appeal declared that an election for a greater london council seat was not valid after it was found that 44 unstamped ballot papers were not counted. these common law principles predate statutory regulation, and therefore appear to apply to any vote, including elections and referendums. election spending is tightly controlled today by statute. a maximum of £20 million can be spent by political parties in national campaigns, plus £10,000 in each constituency. political advertisements on television are prohibited except for those in certain free time slots, although the internet remains largely unregulated. any spending over £500 by third parties must be disclosed. while these rules are strict, they were held in "animal defenders international v uk" to be compatible with the convention because "each person has equal value" and "we do not want our government or its policies to be decided by the highest spenders." foreign interference in voting is completely prohibited, including any "broadcasting" (also over the internet) "with intent to influence persons to give or refrain from giving their votes". donations by foreign parties can be forfeited in their entirety to the electoral commission. domestic donations are limited to registered parties, and must be reported, when they are over £7,500 nationally or £1,500 locally, to the electoral commission. the system for electing the commons is based on constituencies, whose boundaries are periodically reviewed to even out populations. there has been considerable debate about the first-past-the-post system of voting the uk uses, as it tends to exclude minority parties. by contrast, in australia voters may select preferences for candidates, although this system was rejected in a 2011 united kingdom alternative vote referendum staged by the cameron-clegg coalition. in the european parliament, voters choose a party from multi-member regional constituencies: this tends to give smaller parties much greater representation. in the scottish parliament, welsh assembly and london assembly, voters have the choice of both constituencies and a party list, which tends to reflect overall preferences best. to be elected as an mp, most people generally become members of political parties, and must be over 18 on the day of nomination to run for a seat, be a qualifying commonwealth or irish citizen, not be bankrupt, found guilty of corrupt practices, or be a lord, judge or employee of the civil service. to limit the government's practical control over parliament, the ministerial and other salaries act 1975 restricts higher payment of salaries to a set number of mps.
united kingdom constitutional law
any person who is "eligible" to vote (he/she does not necessarily have to be on the electoral register already) can be appointed by another voter as his/her proxy, but for the proxy to be able to vote in an election the proxy application must be received by the electoral registration officer at the voter's local authority by 5pm 6 working days before polling day. the proxy can either vote in person, or can apply for a postal proxy vote (though a postal proxy vote application has an even earlier deadline - any such request must be received by the electoral registration officer by 5pm 11 working days before polling day at the latest). a voter who has become ill or disabled after 5pm six working days before polling day can make an emergency application to vote by proxy as long as the application is received by the electoral registration officer by 5pm on polling day. unless a close relative, a person can only vote as a proxy on behalf of a maximum of two other voters in any single election in each constituency/ward. when applying to vote by proxy for more than one particular election, the application must be accompanied by a relevant attestation and must be justified based on one of the following reasons: blindness; other disability; employment; on an education course; registered as a service, overseas or anonymous elector. if only applying to vote by proxy for one particular election, the elector only needs to explain why he/she cannot vote in person, but does not need an attestation. if it is possible to get to the polling station from the registered address by only air or by sea, the elector can apply for a permanent proxy vote without an attestation.
elections in the united kingdom