In an article for Democratic Audit UK written one week after the European elections in 2019, Professor Toby James used the term "wilful neglect" to describe the government's shocking failure to prepare for those elections in a way that guaranteed all who were entitled to vote were able to do so.
He pointed to four causes which led to voter suppression on an unprecedented scale, with over 1.7 million people being denied a vote:
- Failure by the Government to address under-registration in the UK.
- Failure by the Government to reform the registration process.
- Failure by the Government to confirm the election in time for people to return forms.
- Failure by the Government to provide for all to be able to check their registration status online.
These failures parallel the dozens of shortcomings identified by New Europeans that led to #DeniedMyVote including the Government's failure to heed our warnings and those of MPs we had mobilised at the time.
It led to a degree of voter suppression which Toby James compared with "Jim Crow" elections laws in nineteenth century America:
"de facto practices that made it much more difficult for some people to vote compared to others, therefore reinforcing segregation."
We will soon know whether the legal case brought against the Government for these failures can make progress. This will be heard on 26 and 27 January and we will keep you posted about the outcome.
In the meantime, we will continue to campaign for a public inquiry into #DeniedMyVote and to maintain pressure to secure the current voting rights of EU citizens in the UK and, if possible, extend them further.
Your support is as vital to the success of our campaign as it was when we started.
The best way to support our work is to join New Europeans as a member (if you have not yet done so).
Please also continue to share the petition and to draw attention to this stain on the UK's democratic history.
We have now reached over 155k signatures on our petition - any further support you can give will help us to do more.
We will continue to seek redress for those affected and to push for changes in the law to make sure this can never happen again
Thank you once again for your support.