§ Mr. FallonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what special arrangements are currently in force to enable service personnel posted at short notice to vote in local, parliamentary and European elections.[3202]
§ Mr. SpellarService personnel and their spouses may decide to become Service voters by making a Service declaration. This declaration must be made no later than 10 October in any given year for qualifying addresses in England, Scotland and Wales, or 15 September in Northern Ireland. Should a Serviceman be posted overseas he may vote by proxy in the constituency in which he is registered. If he is posted elsewhere in the UK he may vote either by proxy or post.
Should a Service person be posted at very short notice, i.e. after 5pm 11 working days prior to an election, they would be unable to vote as their method of voting could not be changed in time.
In cases of illness however, the time permitted for changing a person's voting procedure is reduced to six working days. The deadlines above apply to all voters are not only to Service personnel.