The Electoral Commission has said it “appreciates the frustration” of hundreds or possibly thousands of expats who were unable to have their say on the UK’s membership of the European Union because of missing postal votes. Infuriated voters have reported more than 500 cases to The Independent where they registered but did not receive their papers in time for the historic referendum. Those affected live in dozens of countries across the globe, including Thailand, Australia, the US and across the channel in France. Some voters, many of whom said they backed Remain, have called for a re-run of the referendum over the “farce”. One man is investigating the possibility of a class action lawsuit with a London solicitors’ firm over the “denial of a fundamental right”.
Spencer Wain, who lives in Brussels, said: “If there were literally thousands who like me were disenfranchised – with the right denied only to prisoners and sectioned mental health cases – then we need to get a class action against the local councils, the electoral commission, and ultimately HM Government.”
Hundreds of people have sent proof of their registration to The Independent, with the vast majority within the deadline set by the Government.
But there were reports of some embassies publishing the wrong date, voting packs sent abroad with insufficient postage, administrative delays and mistakes including incorrect addresses and even countries. In one blunder, one man found out his postal vote had been accidentally sent to an address in Australia, rather than his home in Austria.