Can I vote

September 15, 2022 1:11 PM

Born before 1983 in the US to a Scottish father who was at that time a British citizen. I have a UK birth certificate and a few years ago I finally got myself a UK passport. It suddenly occurs to me to ask: Can I vote in the UK? In Scotland in particular? How??
posted by latkes to Law & Government (6 answers total)

Voting if you move or live abroad on gov.uk says if you "were registered to vote in the UK within the last 15 years (or in some cases, if you were too young to have registered when you left the UK)"
posted by readinghippo at 1:17 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I see this is controversial, but yes, my question is whether it is legal for me to vote in the UK, and if so, how would I go about registering and in which elections would I be able to vote? I followed the link readinghippo, but hit a dead end on the online form because I've never lived in the UK.
posted by latkes at 2:47 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

I am in a similar situation. If you've not lived in the UK in the last fifteen years, you are out of luck and get to enjoy hoping rural Scotland screams loud enough the next time the government decides people have to appear in person for a passport (that's what killed it the last time; hope you live near a consulate).
posted by hoyland at 3:10 PM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

Oh! But fun fact, if you were to move to the Republic of Ireland, you'd be able to vote in some elections there on account of having a British passport, despite not being an Irish citizen, all while not being able to vote in Britain.
posted by hoyland at 3:12 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer:

I followed the link readinghippo, but hit a dead end on the online form because I've never lived in the UK.

If you've never lived in the UK and you weren't born in the UK then you cannot register to vote in the UK.
posted by caek at 5:00 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Can I vote in the UK? In Scotland in particular? How?

You move here. That's the only option for you.

I do thoroughly recommend it.
posted by automatronic at 4:58 AM on September 16, 2022 [1 favorite]