Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what procedures are in place to ensure that members of the armed forces posted overseas receive, and are able to post, postal ballot papers; and whether any members of the armed forces have complained as a result of not being able to do so in each of the last ten years.

Well established processes are in place to ensure that members of the Armed Forces posted overseas are able to vote in all those elections for which they are eligible.

The MOD runs an annual information campaign on Electoral Registration which sets out the options for Armed Forces personnel and their families to register to vote. Where Armed Forces personnel are to be posted overseas they are encouraged to appoint a proxy as this removes any doubt about whether a postal vote can be received and returned in time before polls close. Some personnel prefer to cast their own vote and the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 has extended the electoral timetable so that Returning Officers are able to send postal ballot papers out earlier than previously allowed. This will give Armed Forces Personnel more time to receive and return their ballots if they have chosen this option.

The MOD continues to work with the Electoral Commission and the British Forces Post Office, as it has done for previous elections, to ensure that postal ballot papers are identified and quickly processed through the mail system where operationally possible.

Information about complaints related to an inability to vote whilst overseas for the last ten years is not held centrally.