Depressing but unsurprising voter disenfranchisement in EU poll

Reading your reports of the casual bureaucratic disenfranchisement of UK citizens abroad and of EU citizens in the UK was shocking but, depressingly, unsurprising (UK government risks lawsuits after EU citizens denied vote, 24 May). Many years ago after moving abroad my wife and I registered for postal votes, but it did not take us too long to realise we would never be able to vote that way as the papers would never arrive early enough to be returned in time. A proxy vote is the only realistic option for expats.

The treatment of EU citizens in the UK is particularly distressing, and in sharp contrast to the treatment we receive here in Spain – once registered as resident at the local town hall, in exactly the same process as applies to Spanish nationals, we asserted our intention to vote in local and EU elections and have now done so on a number of occasions. We have always been treated with courtesy by all the officials with whom we have come in contact. For us, the processes of voting in UK elections are now purely of academic interest, as the UK government has disenfranchised us, under its arbitrary and undemocratic 15-year rule.
Edward Kendall
Alicante, Spain

• Registered EU nationals were denied the vote on Thursday as they had not (allegedly) completed the additional form required. This is necessary, apparently, in order to ensure that they do not vote in more than one country. Compare this with the position of the many thousands, such as students and second-home owners, who are eligible to vote in two places within the UK. A recent investigation, following allegations of cheating at the 2017 general election, showed that virtually no one had actually voted twice.

So why are EU nationals required to fill in the extra form at all? I have always thought it unnecessary, part of the “hostile environment” before the term became so notorious.
Paul Tinnion
Gateshead, Tyne and Wear

• As I have done before, when voting in the European elections on Thursday I complained that, by writing my electoral roll number next to my name on their list, this nullified it as a secret vote. A friendly discussion followed in which various officials in the polling station assured me that it was extremely unlikely that this information would ever be used. I left them with the thought that, in the not so unlikely scenario of Nigel Farage being the home secretary in a near-future, ultra rightwing Conservative government, I would rather him not know who I had voted for.
Michael Burns
New Malden, London

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