§ Mr. ThorneTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he hopes, with the aid of modern technology, to be able to give service personnel the right to vote by post.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggService personnel may vote in person or by post or by proxy if they are living in the United Kingdom. Service personnel overseas must vote by proxy, because the Representation of the People Act 1983 does not permit ballot papers to be sent outside the United Kingdom. To be useful, alernatives or new aids provided by modern technology to the letter post would need to be consistent with the arrangements for the secrecy of the ballot.