At uni- postal vote?

[Miljah]

DS is away at uni.

I am persuading him () to Get On with getting himself sorted with a vote, given that their might be another EU referendum.

He can either:

Register locally, or
Get a postal vote for here.

Legally, should he register local to his uni? Does anyone know?

I guess the best bet is to register locally then get a postal vote - but then he'd have to change it every time he came home over summer, if something major, like another EU vote or a GE happened over the 3 months he's home in the summer!

What does your DC do?

Not just another EU referendum, we might have a general election.
Wouldn't it be sensible to register at home but have his ballot fowarded to whatever temp address he used (or you can forward).

They do ask for the reason why the address the postal vote is sent to (uni) is different to his registered voting address (home address). Is 'I'm at uni' acceptable? Or should he legally register at his uni address?

You can choose where to register, but it's illegal to register in both places.
DS could get a postal vote for his home area, or could give you his proxy vote.

He can be registered at both his term time address and his permanent address at the same time, but can only vote once in any one election.

He can legally register at both addresses but only vote at one.

If there's another referendum I suppose it won't matter where he votes, but if there's a general election it's worth him thinking about which constituency his vote will do the most good in (i.e. I voted at my uni address because my parents lived in a dyed in the wool Tory constituency though as my MP at uni was Kate Hoey it would be a choice between two identical ends of a shitty stick now )

It's perfectly legal to register (and normal!) at both. It is of course illegal to vote at both. I'd suggest he votes where it counts most.

Miljah , Ds was registered at our house ( different area to university) & had a postal vote for whilst he as at university to vote in our local elections - that was very straightforward. - just has to say he was at university. That is the process , he will have to decide where he would rather vote as titchy says A referendum won't matter ( i.e. nationwide) More local elections will do . So agree with sossages and titchy and indeed others on this thread.

Like the others say, register at home (my older kids have all been on the register from 16/17 as I just added them to the yearly form) and get a postal vote for wherever he is at the time needed. I kind of thought from my girls doing it that arranging a postal vote only lasted for one election, but I've just checked and you can say for a particular election, a set time period, or from now on

I guess the best bet is to register locally then get a postal vote - but then he'd have to change it every time he came home over summer - he would anyway if his address changed yearly?

The easiest solution is home with a postal vote. University address changes too often. Politically registering at university might suit though! Or vice versa.

You can apply for a postal vote for each election, or 'permanently' register for a postal vote (you can obviously change this to vote in person if you want to, it just means the postal vote will be sent automatically rather than having to remember to request one each time).

It is lawful to register at home and all 5 of my children (keen voters) have always done that with ap ostal vote including my 2 at university (as elections may come in university holidays or term time so the postal vote for your home address in mmy view is the only way you can be sure of being able to vote). My twins had to give their reason for the postal vote (they had just turned 18 for the last general election but were too young to vote in the referendum). So when we had a local council election this year I thin it was they got their postal vote sent here which I sent on to them which they they used and sent by post from the university.

I would not just register at university as your address changes too much and it is too complex.

Dd has registered having a postal vote being sent to her home address which I would forward on and to vote in person at her university. Obviously in a Ge she would choose the most politically expedient location.
It took her minutes to register online at her uni town and she will just change it if she needs to each year (though as she's based at a college for the full four years I don't think she will need to)

Don't forget they can if they wish take their postal vote into the polling station if they wish to vote in person.

Yes but my children moved 3 times at univesrity, were home half the year so the postal vote seemed to work best for us. The main thing is that they vote, I always say, not matter what their choice is ( I was living in a nest of Cobynites at the last election)

Heratnumber7 No that is wrong. Students are allowed to be registered in both their home and uni address, though of course they can only vote once.
Mine registered at both. At the last general election one of mine voted at uni as it was a marginal and the other decided his vote would "count" more at his home constituency and he did a postal vote.

I'd register at both, because (last I checked), you are eligible to vote in both in local elections (parish councillors etc.), aren't you? You can't vote twice in a national election or a referendum, but you could vote in different local ones?

That's exactly right LRD

Thanks, good to be sure!

Interesting point. It never felt quite right to me that someone could have two addresses for voting - it has a feeling of unfairness about it even if they only vote in one place, although it sounds from the above as if it's okay.

Why unfair?

The point surely is that students are amongst those who have a valid reason for needing the services of MPs in two places. They ought at least to be able to decide where to vote, and certainly when you think about local council issues, they have a stake in two places if they live in both.

Actually looking at this link I think I'll stick with the children just being registered at home with a postal vote which I will post to them if the election happens to be whilst they are away at university
www.electoralcommission.org.uk/faq/voting-and-registration/i-have-two-homes.-can-i-register-to-vote-at-both-addresses

I think LRD is right but there is perhaps a 5% chance student may be counted as not living at home so it could be wrong to register there too so we will stick with what we do for now (although my sons have once taken great delight in cancelling out my vote with theirs so perhaps I should be discouraging them from being registered at home)

I rather think it's up to our dc to choose how they want to do this. They are adults afterall. It's perfectly legal and normal for them to be registered in two places.
www.electoralcommission.org.uk/faq/voting-and-registration/i-am-a-student-living-away-from-home.-where-can-i-register-to-vote

In fact the EC is positively encouraging enrolling students at their university towns.
www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/electoral-administrator/sharing-good-practice/reaching-students

If there's a GE surely it would be better for him to vote where he spends most of the time so that he'll (in theory) get the benefit of his vote.

But ultimately it's their choice. I was at university for the 2001 election, I don't remember even discussing it with my parents. I just registered and voted. Is it even something you need to be involved in?