Elections in the United Kingdom

[1] The total number of names in the United Kingdom appearing in Electoral Registers published on 1 December 2010 and based on a qualifying date of 15 October 2010 was 45,844,691.

[2] In England according to Representation of the People Act 1983, anyone who will be aged 18 or over on polling day[3] and who is a national of any Commonwealth country,[4] including United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, whole of Cyprus,[5][6] but excluding British protected persons[7], can apply to the electoral registration officer in the local authority area where they reside with a 'considerable degree of permanence'[8] to be listed in that area's Electoral Register.

Remand prisoners, voluntary patients in mental hospitals and people without a fixed place of residence can register to vote by making a declaration of local connection.

British citizens who moved abroad before they turned 18 years old can still qualify for registration, with the 15-years period calculated from the date their parent(s)/guardian ceased to appear in the Electoral Register.

Proof of identity, address, three months' residency in NI and date of birth must also be included with applications,[32] which are submitted by post to the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland.

Knowingly giving false information to an electoral registration officer anywhere in the UK is an offence with a maximum penalty, upon conviction, of £5,000 and/or six months' imprisonment.

[38] Between January and September, during the 'rolling registration' period, notices of alteration are published on the first working day of each month to add, remove or amend names.

Where a party has members elected to a parliament, devolved assembly or local council, they will typically seek to follow a united position and maintain a disciplined group using the whip system.

The methods used to draw up the shortlist will vary according to the structure of the CLP, the time available before the election, and the number of candidates who express an interest in the selection.

However, the secrecy of the vote is usually maintained,[citation needed] as at the close of the poll this list linking voters to their ballot paper numbers is sealed inside a packet which may only be opened by the order of a court if the election result is challenged.

Instead, it must be returned to the presiding officer who will endorse it with the voter's name, elector number and polling district reference, before placing it in a special envelope.

Tellers volunteer on behalf of political parties (identifiable by their rosette), but have no legal or official status, and voters are not obliged to give them their elector number.

[78] When applying to vote by proxy for more than one particular election, the application must be accompanied by a relevant attestation and must be justified based on one of the following reasons: blindness; other disability; employment; on an education course; registered as a service, overseas or anonymous elector.

[81] In Northern Ireland, voters can only appoint another person to be their proxy if they can provide a specific reason explaining why they cannot physically attend their allocated polling station.

[73] All polling stations are legally required to be wheelchair-accessible[82] and be equipped with a tactile voting device and at least one large print display version of the ballot paper to assist visually impaired voters.

Disabled voters can also request the Presiding Officer in the polling station or bring along a family member to mark their ballot papers for them if they wish.

The Bill, which required only simple majority votes to pass each stage through the Houses of Parliament, stated that the next general election would be held on 12 December 2019.

Returning officers are required to "take reasonable steps to begin counting ... as soon as practicable within the period of four hours starting with the close of the poll" (i.e. no later than 2 am).

When all the results are known, or when one party achieves an absolute majority of the seats in the House of Commons, the first response comes from the current (and possibly outgoing) prime minister.

By precedent, and in the absence of any formal written constitutional objection, the monarch could in theory dismiss the incumbent prime minister and seek to appoint a replacement.

In the case of a hung parliament, they will remain as prime minister until one party either concludes a coalition agreement or decides to govern as a minority.

The Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act 1883 criminalised attempts to bribe voters and standardised the amount that could be spent on election expenses.

However, as late as in 1968, only ratepayers were allowed to vote in local elections in Northern Ireland, leading to disenfranchisement and misrepresentation of the communities in the council and to the events that created Free Derry.

[126][127] The Representation of the People Act 1985 gave British citizens abroad the right to vote for a five-year period after they had left the United Kingdom.

In 2008 the Ministry of Justice delivered a report that failed to conclusively recommend any particular voting system as "best" and instead simply compared working practices used in the different elections.

Until the 1999 election, the First Past the Post system was used, which had prevented parties with moderately large, but geographically spread out vote shares from receiving any seats.

The introduction of proportional representation has been advocated for some time by the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party of England and Wales,[138][139] and by some pressure groups, such as Charter 88, Unlock Democracy and the Electoral Reform Society.

[145] A 2015 poll found that 57% of the public agree with the principle that "the number of seats a party gets should broadly reflect its proportion of the total votes cast" – compared to only 9% who disagree.

Several prominent Labour MPs expressed a desire for investigating electoral reform, including Peter Hain (who argued in the House of Commons in March 2004 for the Alternative Vote), Patricia Hewitt, Tessa Jowell and Baroness Amos.

As mentioned above, in January 2008 the government produced a "desk-bound" review of the experience to date of new voting systems in the United Kingdom since Labour came to power in 1997.