FI15862
Request
- The number of registered voters on your current electoral roll who are known to be residing overseas. If an exact number is not available, please provide an estimate or approximate percentage based on the information available to you.
- If possible within the time and cost limits of the Act, please provide a breakdown of the overseas electors by country of residence.
Response
Under the Representation of the People Act 1983 as amended, the Council must appoint an officer of the Council to be the Returning Officer for any constituency or part of a constituency coterminous with or situated in the Council’s area. The Council’s Chief Executive is the appointed officer for the registration area of Dover District. His appointment as Returning Officer (RO) and as Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) is separate to his appointment as Chief Executive and, although appointed by the Council, both the Electoral Registration Officer and the Returning Officer’s responsibilities and duties are personal. An example of this is that the register of electors is deemed to be the property of the Electoral Registration Officer, not the local authority.
The Electoral Registration Officer and the Returning Officer do not carry out the duties on behalf of the local authority but in their own personal capacity. A list of public bodies and local authorities that are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act is available at the following website: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guidance-index/freedom-of-information-and-environmental-information-regulations/public-authorities-under-foia/.
As you will see, the Freedom of Information Act does not list any person appointed under the Representation of the People Act 1983. It follows that the Electoral Registration Officer, Returning Officer or any other person appointed under the Act are not subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
Notwithstanding that there is no statutory obligation to provide this information under FOI regulations, the answers to your questions are as follows:
1. There are currently 390 electors on the Electoral Register for Dover District Council registered to vote either as Overseas Electors, or Crown Servants/Service Voters posted overseas.
2. Please note that there is no report to run this information, so it has to be compiled manually, using the country the elector has named as part of their correspondence address.
|
County
|
Number of Electors
|
|
Australia
|
28
|
|
Austria
|
5
|
|
Bahrain
|
1
|
|
Belgium
|
10
|
|
Bermuda
|
3
|
|
Canada
|
11
|
|
Channel Islands
|
5
|
|
Chile
|
1
|
|
China
|
5
|
|
Cyprus
|
4
|
|
Denmark
|
3
|
|
Finland
|
1
|
|
France
|
119
|
|
Germany
|
22
|
|
Ghana
|
1
|
|
Greece
|
6
|
|
Hungary
|
1
|
|
India
|
1
|
|
Ireland
|
9
|
|
Isle of Man
|
5
|
|
Israel
|
1
|
|
Italy
|
5
|
|
Japan
|
2
|
|
Kuwait
|
1
|
|
Latvia
|
1
|
|
Luxembourg
|
2
|
|
Malaysia
|
1
|
|
Malta
|
2
|
|
Namibia
|
1
|
|
Netherlands
|
11
|
|
New Zealand
|
10
|
|
Norway
|
2
|
|
Portugal
|
7
|
|
Qatar
|
1
|
|
Saudi Arabia
|
1
|
|
Singapore
|
3
|
|
South Africa
|
2
|
|
Spain
|
42
|
|
Sweden
|
2
|
|
Switzerland
|
5
|
|
Thailand
|
2
|
|
Turkey
|
2
|
|
UAE
|
4
|
|
USA
|
39
|