Question

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how much it costs to register each overseas voter in the most recent period for which figures are available.

The Electoral Commission’s current campaign to target UK citizens living overseas has an overall budget of £132,000 and has a target of 100,000 additional registrations from overseas voters during the campaign period. If successful, the campaign would have a cost per registration of £1.32.

The Commission will report on the success of the campaign following the election, which will include reporting on the cost of registering overseas voters.

The response to registration campaigns varies considerably depending on levels of public interest in the election and until recently the Commission was only able to measure the number of registration forms downloaded, rather than actual additions to the register. During the Commission’s most recently completed overseas campaign which ran ahead of the 2014 European elections, the cost per download of each registration form was £10.13.