Call for Britons abroad to test new online UK vote registration

British people living overseas are being asked to test a new online system that is intended to allow people to register to vote in UK elections more easily.

It comes as millions more Britons overseas will become eligible to register from January 2024 as the ‘15-year rule’ restriction on voting from abroad finally comes to an end in practice.

Abolished by an act of parliament in 2022, the plan has been waiting for regulations to be put in place for it to take practical effect. These have now been approved by parliament and registration for the new voters is excited to open on January 16.

The new online system was designed by the UK’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC), which is responsible for the delivery of the measures in the Elections Act.

It is intended to allow British nationals living overseas to register and vote in UK parliamentary elections, regardless of when they left the UK. It will also now be possible to register if you were never registered to vote in the UK but are British and have previously lived in the country.

You can find the test on the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ website.

If Britons register before the end of January they will be eligible to vote in the next UK general election, which is likely to be in spring or autumn.

Read more: Details released on how Britons abroad can re-register to vote in UK

The British Embassy in Paris launched the appeal to test the system on December 14.

“The DLUHC requires British nationals living overseas to try out the service for them,” the embassy said on Facebook

“This is a trial only. It will not change any of the participants’ current voting arrangements – but it will be helping to make a very important service better for hundreds of thousands of people.”

People will have to complete a short screening questionnaire before receiving a link to the system test, which the DLUHC says should take five minutes.

The system test will run until December 19, 2023.

In the meantime, any Britons overseas who have not lost their voting rights yet, because they were previously registered in a UK constituency before leaving less than 15 years ago, can already register to vote and are being advised by groups for Britons abroad to do so to avoid a rush next year.

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