An American in Ireland
by The Yank
We are nearing the end of the election campaign (February 25) and, not surprisingly, the topic of emigration is featuring fairly high on the list of political issues. The various candidates are going to do this, that and the other to stop emigration or help those who have to emigrate. Of course, for those parties not in the outgoing government, the number of people having to leave the country makes for a handy stick with which to beat the current office-holders.
To any Irish people old enough, this is familiar territory. Emigration was a political issue in the 1950s and 1980s too and many of the same arguments and promises are being offered today. However, one twist is that this time there is an awareness that it is unjust that those who are forced to leave to find work cannot vote.
And they really cannot vote.
I always knew that there was no facility to enable emigrants to vote either with a postal vote or at embassies and consular offices, but I always believed that an emigrant could come home to vote if he or she wanted to do so. However, they cannot and to do so is actually to commit a crime, one that could entail a prison sentence if the emigrant was actually prosecuted and convicted for having the audacity to vote in their homeland.
An emigrant could be sent to prison for voting, which is ridiculous on two levels. First, the very idea that an Irish citizen who leaves home to provide a better life for themselves and/or their family should be punished for engaging in that most basic of civic rights is obscene. I can almost see the logic of not facilitating voting from overseas, but I cannot see why those few who might wish to go to the trouble and expense of returning to vote should be considered criminals for doing so.
Second, and even more bizarre, if a voting emigrant did end up in prison they would then be the only Irish person in prison who couldn't vote! Yes, prisoners in Ireland are allowed to vote - by mail. So there is a postal vote system for all sorts of people, including criminals, but not emigrants.
Get it? Murderers, rapists, bank-robbers, drug dealers, etc. can all vote if they find themselves doing hard time, but the poor old emigrant is denied that right. They're even denied the right if they're imprisoned for voting while living outside the state because a prisoner can only vote if he or she was "ordinarily resident in the State prior to his or her detention in prison."
It's an amazing state of affairs, one crying out to be corrected. I won't, however, hold my breath waiting for the new government to fix this because emigrants keen enough to want to vote probably have a real interest in returning to live in Ireland. So long as that desire goes unfulfilled they are unlikely to vote for the governing party(ies), which is why I fully expect that the incoming government will stall and prevaricate before dropping the whole idea.
An emigrant could be sent to prison for voting, which is ridiculous on two levels. First, the very idea that an Irish citizen who leaves home to provide a better life for themselves and/or their family should be punished for engaging in that most basic of civic rights is obscene. I can almost see the logic of not facilitating voting from overseas, but I cannot see why those few who might wish to go to the trouble and expense of returning to vote should be considered criminals for doing so.
ReplyDeleteHow absurd is this!
A bit off topic: Seeing this made me wonder if UK prisoners in foreign jails can vote in the UK (under the for 15 years after moving abroad rule). A quick nosey at ROSA 1983 s.3 suggests they can, by virtue of the seemingly tight UK definition of “penal institution” there. If that's correct, is that an unevenness (which EU jail affects outcome) that was made to the ECHR, or indeed to the media here?
ReplyDeleteIt rather looks like, if the prisoner is repatriated to a UK jail to serve the term, he would then lose voting rights that he had while in the foreign jail. An odd effect.
rwendland: My understanding is that foreign prisoners in UK prisons are entitled to vote in their countries elections and the European election. But, UK prisoners in jail abroad cannot vote in either.
ReplyDeleteThis is an issue which is worth arguing before the ECJ (if not the ECtHR).
The way I read the Representation of the People Act 1983 s.3(2)(b), is that it only makes "legally incapable of voting" prisoners who are in a "penal institution" according to this definition:
ReplyDelete(b) “penal institution” means an institution to which the Prison Act 1952, the Prisons (Scotland) Act 1952 or the Prison Act (Northern Ireland) 1953 applies;
So as far as this section goes, being in a non-UK jail seems no bar to voting in the UK.
Cannot see another section or Act that adds a bar, though that may of course be possible. Specifically the law adding the "overseas elector" concept does not seem to add a bar - Representation of the People Act 2000 SCHEDULE 2 seems to be the amendment that created the "overseas elector".
If someone in a foreign jail got themselves onto the electoral role as an "overseas elector", just like UK citizens who have moved abroad for less that 15 years, then it looks like UK courts would not block their postal or proxy vote.
Do you know anyone who has tried this? If it is blocked somehow, looks like the remedy would be in UK courts in the first instance.
Here are a few links on "overseas voters".
http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/faq/voting-and-registration/can-i-still-vote-if-i-move-overseas
http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/register_to_vote/british_citizens_living_abroad.aspx
http://www.rochford.gov.uk/pdf/elections_app_reg_overseas_elector_%28RPF37%29.pdf
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/2/section/3
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/2/schedule/2