To make your complaint heard and achieve the best results, follow an “escalation chain”. Start at the lowest and nearest level and work your way up. However, this is a general rule. For instance, if you have concrete evidence of electoral fraud you should skip directly to the Police.
Make sure you raise your voice about the issue. Follow @DeniedTheVote on Twitter, tweet using the #VoteDenied hashtag and join us on Facebook.
Have a look at the ‘Equal Voting Rights and Procedures for all EU Citizens in EP elections‘ petition on Change.org.
Please make sure you fill in the VoteDenied questionnaire that collects data and case studies for the Electoral Commission and Directorate-General for Justice at the European Commission.
First – the local authority
The local authority holds the primary responsibility for the local Elections Office. They are the first port of call to file a complaint. You can find the contact details of you local authority at About my vote
Second – the UK’s Electoral Commission
After you have filed your complaint with the local authority, contact the Electoral Commission.
The Electoral Commission can not carry out investigations into individual circumstances that have been caused by the actions of either Electoral Registration Officers or Returning Officers. However, they do set standards for and monitor the performance of those officers and as part of this function will take into account any complaints they receive.
They will report their findings in their statutory report on the elections which will be published in mid-July so reporting your complaint to them will be useful.
Third – your consulate or embassy and the European Commission
Together with contacting the Electoral Commission it could also be worth reporting your complaint to your country’s embassy in the UK and to the European Commission.
Fourth – the Police
If you have a strong suspicion that you were denied the vote because of electoral fraud, contact the Electoral Registration Officer or Returning Officer for your local area. If you have evidence of a suspected election fraud, contact the local police.
You can find more about preventing and reporting electoral fraud on the web site of the Electoral Commission.