His right to vote

[jenniferjean]

My husband received a letter the other day, from the Electoral Registration Office at our council offices. The letter was a "Failed Postal Vote" letter stating that his ballot paper at the recent election had been rejected because the signature on the postal voting statement did not match the signature he had previously provided to them.

The letter gave the opportunity to submit a new signature by a certain date in order to continue to be able to vote by post. It also stated that if he had any questions about the contents of the letter, including if he may have difficulty providing the same signature every time, to contact the office. So I rang the office and explained that due to his dementia his writing was almost unreadable and that he was unable to supply the same signature every time.

I was then asked if he was aware of who he was voting for. I told her that as his carer I filled in the form for him, but he put his cross where he wanted. I said that I didn't think that because he was a dementia sufferer he should loose his right to vote if he wanted to. I didn't tell her that he wasn't able to follow who was promising what and that he voted for the party that he had always voted for. I honestly believe he should vote if he wants to. It's his right. - anyway I digress.

At first she said there was nothing they could do. But I challenged that and asked if our local council was dementia friendly. That pressed the right button. She then looked for some information and came back and said I could ring the Electoral Role Commission and gave me a telephone number to request a waiver application form. Actually she was wrong as when I rang that number they referred me back to my local council. But when I told them I had already rung them they said to leave it with them. The next thing was someone else from my local council did ring asking for my husband's details and a waiver postal vote application has been received.

I know it's only a minor matter but if anyone else has this problem - it's down to your local electoral registration officer.

 

[Jennyc]

I had the same thing with my husband, his Brexit vote was rejected as his writing was pretty illegible by then. However, I was instantly offered a proxy vote on his behalf, and the changes duly recorded. When it came to it, I decided not to act on his behalf as by then he really had no idea what he might be voting for. Sadly, he has died since and his name is of course, no longer on the electoral roll. But the young man in the council office at the time was very helpful.

 

[Tin]

I suspect I will have the same problem for my mum, although we have not received anything yet. She put a cross in the signature box and then only her first name. She also voted for a party she has never in her entire life voted for.

 

[Beate]

OH also has a signature waiver form now after his referendum vote was rejected. Then some idiot sent him a signature refresh form and when he didn't send it back (erm, duh?) they sent him a letter saying his postal vote had been cancelled. So I had to ring and we had to do it all over again, just in time for the GE. What a palaver, but it's working now.

 

[LynneMcV]

My husband's postal Brexit vote also failed due to his signature not being recognised. When the Council wrote to confirm this they included a form to complete if there was a reason why his signature could not be consistent etc.

There was a deadline to return the form by, or future postal votes would be cancelled.

However, since the Brexit vote my husband has lost even the most basic understanding of politics, policies or voting. He has never been a 'one party' person so I wouldn't even be able to hazard a guess as to who he would want to vote for.

I didn't return the form and allowed the postal vote to lapse. He would maintain the right to vote, just not by post.

However, in the run up to the latest General Election my husband received both a postal vote and a voting card - so maybe the snap election threw their system into disarray! My husband was not interested in voting and so neither method was used.

 

[Marcelle123]

We decided not to bother with Mum's postal vote because she has lost any ability to understand the issues - but in fact the postal vote turned up late in any case.

 

[Aisling]

My husband received a letter the other day, from the Electoral Registration Office at our council offices. The letter was a "Failed Postal Vote" letter stating that his ballot paper at the recent election had been rejected because the signature on the postal voting statement did not match the signature he had previously provided to them.

The letter gave the opportunity to submit a new signature by a certain date in order to continue to be able to vote by post. It also stated that if he had any questions about the contents of the letter, including if he may have difficulty providing the same signature every time, to contact the office. So I rang the office and explained that due to his dementia his writing was almost unreadable and that he was unable to supply the same signature every time.

I was then asked if he was aware of who he was voting for. I told her that as his carer I filled in the form for him, but he put his cross where he wanted. I said that I didn't think that because he was a dementia sufferer he should loose his right to vote if he wanted to. I didn't tell her that he wasn't able to follow who was promising what and that he voted for the party that he had always voted for. I honestly believe he should vote if he wants to. It's his right. - anyway I digress.

At first she said there was nothing they could do. But I challenged that and asked if our local council was dementia friendly. That pressed the right button. She then looked for some information and came back and said I could ring the Electoral Role Commission and gave me a telephone number to request a waiver application form. Actually she was wrong as when I rang that number they referred me back to my local council. But when I told them I had already rung them they said to leave it with them. The next thing was someone else from my local council did ring asking for my husband's details and a waiver postal vote application has been received.

I know it's only a minor matter but if anyone else has this problem - it's down to your local electoral registration officer.

It is not a minor matter at all and fair dues to you for getting it sorted. I always took my late husband to cast his vote.

Aisling xx

 

[LilyJ]

It's such a difficult one isn't it?
Our PWD is aware when there's an election and gets cross if we suggest she doesn't vote but is totally unable to grasp the issues.
When we asked her to consider how to vote in the Referendum, having tried to outline the gist of it, she said: "But I don't know who the candidates are"!!!!!!
So sad eh?

 

[Wishful]

Speak to your council and they will send you a form to declare that the person may not/is not capable of signing the same signature every time.

I did this after my husband's signature was obviously not the same. I phoned before the postal vote needed to done by so his vote was counted.

 

[irismary]

It is difficult - when we went for the EU referendum my husband struggled so one of the officers read the paper and he excitedly pointed to his choice and she helped him mark the paper. Now we have a postal vote and he has a signature waiver. I went through the candidates and he was clear how he wanted to vote and managed the cross himself. He was confused by having a second choice when we voted for the elected mayor but after going through it a couple of times he was ok but struggled with the second cross so I helped and I expected it to be invalid but its seems to have been ok. We vote totally differently and I doubt he will ever change his voting - what would I do if he picked a candidate that wasn't from his usual party choice? Cross that bridge if I come to it. He would hate to not use his vote, he has never missed.

 

[esmeralda]

I have wondered about this, as the exemption for council tax for PWD is given because it is expected that they don't have the capacity to make an informed choice in elections. At least that's what I read.

 

[Beate]

Yeah, it's a strange thing but someone's right to vote is so absolute that it's very hard to actually take it from someone officially. There are some factors of course like being in prison but diagnosis of dementia is not one of them.