EU citizens have been wrongly told they could not vote in England’s local elections, raising fears about future training of public service officials in relation to European nationals’ post-Brexit rights.
Romain Sauron, a French national, said he turned up to vote at the Mile End ward in the London borough of Tower Hamlets to find a “G” alongside his name.
The officials at the polling station told him this marked him out as an EU citizen and meant he could not vote.
“They were quite difficult. I have been here for 13 years and always voted, but I had to haggle with them for about 10 minutes. They checked their leaflet and told me: ‘No, you can’t vote’. I suspect they didn’t read it properly and their training was very poor. They then made a phone call to someone and after 10 minutes they said ‘that’s fine, you can vote’,” Sauron said.
“I was tagged as an EU citizen. I think many people would have walked away, would have felt ashamed.”
Another EU citizen, also voting in Tower Hamlets, had a similar experience. Dragos Serban, a Romanian who has lived in the UK for eight years, said: “I made my way to my designated polling station and as expected they asked for my name and address.
“On their checklist, the letter G was next to my name and I was shown a leaflet which said that G means ‘certain EU citizens cannot vote’.
“I was then asked to wait a few minutes while they made a call to double check my eligibility to vote. When they came back, they said that the leaflet was in regards to the general election and does not apply to today’s local one. Once that has been cleared up, they were happy to cross my name off their checklist and was allowed to proceed with the vote.”
Serban added: “While my experience has been positive, I am left wondering just how many EU citizens are in the same situation and have left the polling station without exercising their voting rights.”
A Tower Hamlets spokesman said: “We’ve not had reports of people being turned away across the borough but anyone with concerns should report them to this address: www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/electoralfraud or @towerhamletsnow.”
EU citizens, with the exception of Irish citizens, are not entitled to vote in general elections. However they are allowed to vote in local and European elections.
On social media, many EU citizens expressed sadness that this year may be the last time they will be able to vote in the country in which they live.
One, Anna Brostromer, said only a miracle could save her right to vote after 23 years in the country.
Today is a very important day. It is probably the last time, that me as a EU citizen in the U.K. gets to vote in the local election. Lived, studied, worked and paid tax here for 23 years plus. Now my voting rights will be removed unless a miracle happens. https://t.co/eYwLDv6PdG
— Anna Brostromer (@brostromer) May 3, 2018
Another EU citizen, in the country for 34 years, wrote that after Thursday’s elections he felt “devalued” and a “commodity” who just earns and pays taxes.
“My foreign name will become a wall, my badge of difference, a reason for someone to say, ‘You have no right to be here’.”
EU citizens are set to lose their right to vote after Brexit. One person voices how he feels about this: #InLimboBrexit #FBPE @The3Million #disenfranchisement pic.twitter.com/zZtRq9Trel
— In Limbo (@InLimboBrexit) May 3, 2018
British citizens in Europe will also lose the right to vote in local elections and European elections and some, who have been out of the country for more than 15 years, will not be allowed to vote in British general elections either.
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