Today voters are out for the European Parliament Elections.
Voters will choose 73 MEPs in 12 multi-member regional constituencies. Each region has a different number of MEPs based on its population.
8 MEPs will be elected to represent London. MEPs are elected by proportional representation, in order as listed by their party. The number of MEPs each party gets is calculated using a formula called d’Hondt, except in Northern Ireland, where the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system is used.
Polling stations in the UK are open until 10pm. Voting in other EU nations will take place at various times over the next three days.
The results will be announced once all EU nations have voted, with the voting process expected to be completed by 10pm on Sunday.
Incorrect paperwork and letters sent too late!
British citizens living overseas in other EU countries have been denied a vote in today’s European elections because councils failed to send their postal voting ballots in time.
Meanwhile, voters from other EU countries resident in the UK are being turned away from British polling stations for not having submitted the correct paperwork in advance.
Both disenfranchised groups have taken to Twitter to protest, using the hashtag #DeniedMyVote.
The Local Government Association said it did not yet know how many expats, nor how many EU voters in the UK, had been affected. There are 285,000 British voters overseas on the electoral register, and close to three million EU citizens in the UK.
Councils are understood to have sent postal ballots to expats, and reminder letters to EU voters in the UK, much later than usual because the elections were only confirmed after the UK failed to exit the EU as planned at the end of March.