#DeniedMyVote trended on Twitter in the UK yesterday, as many people faced problems casting their vote in the European Parliamentary elections.

The focus was often on the poll workers who were the bearers of bad news to EU citizens that their name had been crossed off the register – because they had not completed the the additional bureaucratic hurdles.

Where does fault lie?

Electoral law is centralised in the UK and must be passed in Parliament.  In practice, the buck stops with the government for the problem.

The real causes of the #DeniedMyVote were fourfold, and they were all fixable.

1. The government introduced a more bureaucratic voter registration process in 2014, which left EU voter registration rates at only 53% (individual electoral registration).
2. The government did not repeal the requirement for EU citizens to complete additional registration paperwork, after problems occurred in the 2014 European elections.
3. The government only finally confirmed that there would be an EU election on the day of voter registration deadline.
4. The government said that an online system where EU citizens could check their registration status was too expensive.

I’ve posted a longer blog on the Democratic Audit.  Please do have a read!