I have lived in the UK, USA, Spain and Singapore. I am British but spend a lot of time in Singapore.
With a major vote in the UK on November 12th 2019 Singaporeans were asking me whether the British could vote in Singapore.
There are three ways in which you might vote when away. The same rules may apply if you are voting in another country or visiting another country.
Different rules may apply in the UK for national elections and local by-elections. Singapore is part of the Commonwealth (yes, it still exists).
Somebody suggested I or other members of my family might be able to vote at an embassy. My family phoned the embassy and got a long menu of multiple choice of departments. They chose consular services.
Postal Vote
You will have to register well in advance.
If you are registering from your home country, you might need to register online for the forms to be posted. Then you need to post from home to the polling organization well in advance. Also allow time to fill in the form before the last post of the day.
Don't just allow five minutes for the form and five minutes to run to the postbox on the last day. You need time to read the instructions, fill in the form, seal the vote inside one envelope, place that inside another envelope.
Last Minute Delivering or Posting the Voting Form
Then find your coat and umbrella and run to the postbox or post office. Or drive and look for a parking place. Maybe the post office closes their door five minutes early to deal with the last customer before closing time. Then they point to the nearest postbox. Stop to check the envelope is securely sealed.
Electoral Register
Note whether your name and address then appear on the electoral register. You may choose to leave it on. This is handy. The electoral register is old to companies whose staff check your credentials. That is how the phone operator can ask you is that Mrs so and so using your first name, to be sure whether it is you or your spouse or your neighbour or child. it can also autofill, either from information saved on your computer, or saved on the computer of the people receiving your form - the government or those who are sold your information.
Privacy and Protection
Check to see where your information is going and whether data protection will protect you and if so how. It may be that the government and legal organizations such as the police are exempt in the country where you are voting or residing.
To summarize, getting off the register might help protect you from mailing lists, spams and scams. On the other hand, staying on enables your contacts to find your customer name or company name faster and acts as PR.
You might have to provide a signature within a box - practise writing your signature small enough to fit. You might also need your address including the postcode. read the form through so you don't write your first name or whole name in the box which says surname.
You might also need to write your name in capitals. And write your name in capitals in one place and your signature in another box. Then if you make a mistake you need to see if you are allowed to rub out or use correction fluid or if you have to cross out and add your initials.
Or have the forms couriered out to you and back to somebody reliable in your family or workplace to post for you.
Do you wish to be voting online just for one election, or for any and every election?
Proxy Vote
For the UK the proxy vote must be done by somebody who is themselves eligible to vote.
Online
Not yet available everywhere but will be the thing of the future. No doubt in avant garde Singapore.
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_voting
https://www.gov.uk/voting-in-the-uk#voting-by-proxy
https://www.gov.uk/contact-electoral-registration-office
About The Author
Angela Lansbury is an author and travel writer and photographer, teaching English and other languages.
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