British ex-pats in no hurry to register to vote

It is well known that some demographic groups are more likely to be registered to vote than others.

The Conservative strategy to appeal to the “gray vote” appears well founded: 96 percent of over 65s in Great Britain were registered to vote in 2022, as were 95 percent of owner occupiers. Conversely, the young, students, and people who have moved house recently are the least likely groups to be registered to vote.

But much can change in the final weeks of campaigning. Over 3.7 million applications to register were submitted in the weeks between the announcement of the 2019 election and the deadline to register.

A significant portion of these applications — around 580,000 in 2017 and 660,000 in 2019 — were submitted on the day of the deadline.

Since the announcement of the 2024 general election on 22 May, more than 2 million registration applications have been submitted in total.

This is lower than during the equivalent period prior to the 2019 election,although a spokesperson for elections quango the Electoral Commission said this may be largely down to timing.