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Some 111,384 Britons residing overseas have submitted their applications to vote in the UK election, according to the Electoral Commission.
This covers the period since the announcement of the UK General Election on 22 May, and until the deadline to register to vote passed (18 June).
The largest number of overseas applications came on the last day for registration (June 18) with 17,323 applications submitted.
UK local authorities do not collect data about votes made by British citizens overseas, so it is not possible to calculate how many overseas votes are made at each election, a spokesman for the Electoral Commission explained.
However, the Electoral Commission will be collecting data from Electoral Registration Officers after the election to establish the total number of overseas voters registered for this poll.
The UK government estimates that the abolishment of the 15-year rule could mean three million overseas British citizens could be eligible to vote.
Ever since the 15-year rule was scrapped on 16 January, 171,581 Britons abroad have applied to register to vote, according to the Electoral Commission.
The abolition of the 15-year-rule means that all Britons abroad are now eligible to vote – no matter how long they have lived overseas.
The number of registered overseas voters has increased significantly since 2010. Until 2015 no more than 35,000 overseas voters were registered at any point. But the year 2015 saw a threefold increase in the number of registered overseas electors to 108,275. The figures were recorded in House of Commons library paper on Overseas Voters.
The Electoral Commission and the House of Commons Library attribute the increase to the introduction of individual electoral registration and the ability of voters (domestic and overseas) to register online through the Register to Vote website.
The number of overseas electors registered in 2016, 2017 and 2019, when the EU referendum and two General Elections took place, exceeded 200,000. The June 2017 UK General Election had the highest number of registered overseas electors at just over 285,000. This increase took place with the 15-year limit still in place.
New Europeans UK and Unlock Democracy are running a joint campaign for the introduction of overseas constituencies in the UK to better represent Britons living abroad. Many countries of a not dissimilar size to the UK such as France and Italy have overseas constituencies.
A campaign for overseas constituencies is supported by groups such as Bremain in Spain, Brexpats – Hear Our Voice, European Britons, British Multi Country Residents, the British Overseas Voters Forum, Liberal Democrats Abroad, and the True & Fair Party.
