Referendum postal vote

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Allan
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Referendum postal vote

Post by Allan »

The voting papers arrived today
Karen
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Post by Karen »

It's good to know yours has arrived.
Hopefully ours will arrive today.

Karen
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Gus Morris
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Post by Gus Morris »

Our voting papers arrived yesterday. We've filled them in and they are already in the post box. No need to buy a stamp - they are pre-paid. Now we just have to hope that La Poste does not go en greve!

It may just be coincidence but when Labour was in power the papers arrived 48 hours before the election. So were useless. But when the coalition was seeking re-election the papers arrived in plenty of time.

I don't know why it is, but many of the British ex-pats that I have met have little interest in politics. They don't even vote in the municipals where the choice directly affects them and they might even know some of the names appearing on the lists.

Gus

NB Moved from another thread
martyn94
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Post by martyn94 »

Gus Morris wrote:Our voting papers arrived yesterday. We've filled them in and they are already in the post box. No need to buy a stamp - they are pre-paid. Now we just have to hope that La Poste does not go en greve!

It may just be coincidence but when Labour was in power the papers arrived 48 hours before the election. So were useless. But when the coalition was seeking re-election the papers arrived in plenty of time.

I don't know why it is, but many of the British ex-pats that I have met have little interest in politics. They don't even vote in the municipals where the choice directly affects them and they might even know some of the names appearing on the lists.

Gus

NB Moved from another thread
I think there was once a feeling, before postal votes became very much more common than they were then, that it was vaguely undemocratic to let people vote without experiencing almost all of the campaign (B Johnson gives a Hitler salute on D minus 2; J Corbyn changes his mind on D minus 1; or whatever).

I may be misremembering, but I think it is vastly more likely than the conspiratorial view.

As for the rest, I think being entitled to vote only in the municipales may make us a bit disengaged. Or maybe, as in my case, and as elsewhere, it's the knowledge that my guy (or the other guy) will get in by a street anyway.
Lanark Lass
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Post by Lanark Lass »

When I became old enough to vote my father told me I had a duty to use my vote because people had fought to get me the vote. Don't think my vote ofter has much influence, but I remember his words.Nothing ventured nothing gained.

Expats potentially have a lot to lose if there is a Brexit so cannot see why people don't at least let their voice be heard. Yes one can continue to live abroad, but what about health care, inflationary effects on state pension etc.?
martyn94
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Post by martyn94 »

Lanark Lass wrote:When I became old enough to vote my father told me I had a duty to use my vote because people had fought to get me the vote. Don't think my vote ofter has much influence, but I remember his words.Nothing ventured nothing gained.

Expats potentially have a lot to lose if there is a Brexit so cannot see why people don't at least let their voice be heard. Yes one can continue to live abroad, but what about health care, inflationary effects on state pension etc.?
But that's the dilemma, isn't it? Your old dad (like mine) told you to vote as a matter of national duty. But what you say about this particular vote (health care, pensions) is entirely about your own self-interest as an expat. I think, for what it's worth, that my self-interest happens to align with that of most people who still actually live in the UK, who have vastly more to lose or gain than I do. But if I were in any doubt, it would be a difficult call.
Lanark Lass
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Post by Lanark Lass »

I still live mainly in the U.K. for personal reasons.
I would have extra reasons to make my voice heard should I be living elsewhere in Europe.

We all have an interest in Europe being at peace which is best achieved by being in Europe.

For the young the opportunity to seek work anywhere in Europe is a great opportunity.

I enjoy my freedom to move around Europe and be assured that I will receive treatment should I lneed medical treatment anywhere in Europe and the costs will come back to the U.K. where I paid my N.I. contributions (have already had to test this when my husband landed in Perpignan hospital). I assume this applies to people from other EU countries who come to the U.K.

People coming into the U.K. but U.K. residents also have the freedom to move elsewhere in Europe should they so desire. Its a two-way opportunity.
martyn94
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Post by martyn94 »

Lanark Lass wrote:I still live mainly in the U.K. for personal reasons.
I would have extra reasons to make my voice heard should I be living elsewhere in Europe.

We all have an interest in Europe being at peace which is best achieved by being in Europe.

For the young the opportunity to seek work anywhere in Europe is a great opportunity.

I enjoy my freedom to move around Europe and be assured that I will receive treatment should I lneed medical treatment anywhere in Europe and the costs will come back to the U.K. where I paid my N.I. contributions (have already had to test this when my husband landed in Perpignan hospital). I assume this applies to people from other EU countries who come to the U.K.

People coming into the U.K. but U.K. residents also have the freedom to move elsewhere in Europe should they so desire. Its a two-way opportunity.
Amen.
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Post by Nigel »

Postal vote papers received this morning......j'ai vote.
Karen
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Post by Karen »

Ours arrived this morning too.

Karen
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Post by Smiley G »

My papers arrived on Wednesday (25th) and my wife's today (27th). As her first name is before mine alphabetically, I thought it would have been the other way around :lol:
My message, whichever way you intend to vote, is to vote. This referendum demands a high turnout as the outcome will impact on future generations. Voter apathy could aid the Leave campaign, whose supporters appear to be the most vociferous and enthusiastic.
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Post by Perpipal »

I have recently discovered that it is possible to vote by proxy by appointing someone in the UK with their approval to vote for you but you must register by 15 June.
Method: Go to Gov.UK / apply to vote by proxy / print out and fill in the form then post as soon as possible.
The current polls suggest that 'Remain' are 15% ahead and the markets including FX seem no longer fazed. Every vote counts and I have no doubt in my mind what we will all be voting for, though I do wish that Mr Cameron could show more moral fibre when tackling the eurocrats but I am hoping that when he does eventually get out of short trousers he will be able to do that.
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Sus
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Referendum

Post by Sus »

Lanark Lass, couldn't agree more with you, thanks for the posts.
martyn94
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Post by martyn94 »

Perpipal wrote:I have recently discovered that it is possible to vote by proxy by appointing someone in the UK with their approval to vote for you but you must register by 15 June.
Method: Go to Gov.UK / apply to vote by proxy / print out and fill in the form then post as soon as possible.
The current polls suggest that 'Remain' are 15% ahead and the markets including FX seem no longer fazed. Every vote counts and I have no doubt in my mind what we will all be voting for, though I do wish that Mr Cameron could show more moral fibre when tackling the eurocrats but I am hoping that when he does eventually get out of short trousers he will be able to do that.
Perpipal
I think that tackling the eurocrats counts for rather less than tackling the fact that his own party doesn't agree with him: only a few of his cabinet are backing Brexit (though perhaps rather more are biting their tongues); but a good half of his MPs seem to back Brexit (and again, perhaps a few more are keeping schtum in the hope of a job); and a clear majority of his activists surely do.

The whole exercise is designed to tackle inner-party tensions, which it can't in any event hope to resolve whichever side wins. As my old dad used to say "there will be tears before bedtime", and long after. Since I am afraid they still are "the natural party of Government", as they've always claimed, it doesn't bode well.

As Maggie used to say, he was evidently "frit" when he signed up for this.

Incidentally, "Conservative Party activist" has always seemed to me the oxymoron to top them all, but obviously it's a failure of imagination on my part
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Gus Morris
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Post by Gus Morris »

http://www.france24.com/en/20140528-fra ... -policy-eu

This makes interesting reading. Just substitute "the UK" for France and ignore the France/French speaking bits.. Is this what the Brexit voter really wants?

Gus
martyn94
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Post by martyn94 »

Gus Morris wrote:http://www.france24.com/en/20140528-fra ... -policy-eu

This makes interesting reading. Just substitute "the UK" for France and ignore the France/French speaking bits.. Is this what the Brexit voter really wants?

Gus
Mostly I think it's not what they want, though a few want some bits of it. I think that in the UK there is much more delusional belief in "sovereignty" as an end in itself, and in a fantasy world where we can have our cake and eat it in economic terms, than in outright xenophobia, trade protection, and nativism.

I am not sure that we have ever got past the idea that there was something essentially demeaning about joining the EU. Plus the fact that lots of people feel, quite rightly, that things are much worse for them than for their parents in our version of the trente glorieuses. The truth may be that they are just living in the wrong place, or should have tried harder at school, or just that our home-grown elites have got it all stitched up anyway. There's probably not much they could do about any of that: so given a big, reasonably intelligible, target, they are likely to fire at it. It doesn't make them bad people, or anything other than good neighbours to the polish plumber who moves in next door.

Not that French FN voters are committed to all this bilge, either, or even know a tenth of it. They are just disgruntled, for fairly similar reasons.
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Post by Admin010 »

There have been a number of changes on over the years, but there are two main and major ones with which I am familiar, as well as that I think about to be most important. These types of achievements were a long time coming, but finally happened in the form of amendments: 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, gave Blacks (men only) the right to vote, and the 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, gave women the right to vote. Even though the 15th Amendment looked great on paper, this did not work out so well and good.
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