'Democratic catastrophe': hundreds of EU nationals turned away at polling booths

Reports from across the country are saying that EU nationals are being turned away from UK polling stations due to admin errors in the EU election on 23rd May.

Best for Britain's Interim CEO Naomi Smith said:

"It is unacceptable that an unwilling and incompetent government has denied many EU nationals their democratic right to vote in these European elections.

"We stand with the many disenfranchised European citizens who have not been able to vote today and who will be among the most affected by the outcome of these elections. 

"It’s now the duty of the Cabinet Office to make sure this democratic catastrophe never happens again, and importantly to ensure that EU nationals are not denied their chance to make their voice heard in a final say."

Actor Alex Andreou, who has been affected by this issue, said:

“When I tried to vote, I found my name was crossed off the list as ineligible, even though I was registered and had sent the correct declaration in both by mail and email. When I queried this, the official present called the electoral office and I spoke to someone.

"I forwarded the email with my form. He had to trudge through emails they received that day, to find they had received it and clear it  with a supervisor, in order to reinstate me. The process took over an hour.

"Most people would have given up. While I was on the phone, a dozen voters were turned away for the same reason and did not question it. It shouldn’t have to be this difficult. It shouldn’t take hours and a combination of helpful people.

"Every election millions of Brits abroad and EU27 citizens here, who want to vote, who want to engage, are disenfranchised by this Kafkaesque system, while we lionise the once-in-a-lifetime vote of some people in 2016. And those politicians who spend all day telling us ‘we must respect democracy’ could not be less interested, because our disenfranchisement suits them just fine.”


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