The Independent reports (09 Apr 2010) that thousands of British military personnel based in Afghanistan have been disenfranchised in the general election because they have not been registered and there remain massive problems in getting their postal votes back in time. The paper says that only around 65 per cent of the 9,500-strong UK force in the country are registered to vote and many of these will have to be brought back from frontline bases in Helmand which are under daily Taliban fire.

nn

Arrangements for Personnel in Afghanistan

4. A Working Group comprising MOD, Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Electoral Commission officials
has been considering ways to make it easier for Service personnel who will be in Afghanistan at the
time of the General Election to vote by post if that is their choice. An additional Service Voting and
registration campaign will be run for those who will be in Afghanistan during the election period.
5. Arrangements are in hand to improve the existing process through quicker delivery of ballots to
enable Service personnel in Afghanistan to receive and return their postal votes within the constraints
of the electoral timeframe. This involves using a facility to sort and pack ballot papers for airfreight to
units/individuals serving in Afghanistan and, on their return, for the sorting and distribution of sealed
postal ballots to the returning officers in constituencies around the UK. Units will be required to
facilitate arrangements for Service personnel to cast their vote in theatre and to ensure enveloped
ballot papers are collected and packaged for airfreight for their return to the UK.
6. However, this scheme will not work for every Service person in Afghanistan and due to the tight
electoral timeframe, electoral timeframes and operational priorities, success cannot be guaranteed.
Service personnel are therefore still encouraged to register to vote by proxy.
7. In the meantime, work with the Ministry of justice continues to explore ways of improving voting
arrangements for overseas voters and, for the longer term, to pursue their efforts to identify a
comprehensive solution.
Question and Answer Brief
What are you doing to enable Service personnel to vote in the forthcoming General Election?
Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is responsible the electoral process. MOD and the Electoral Commission
conduct extensive information campaigns annually, coinciding with the autumn household canvass,
to encourage Service personnel to register to vote. The latest campaign emphasised the importance
of registration in view of this year's General Election. We will be running further reminders during the
period leading up to the Election.
How does proxy voting work? Surely this isn't a secure process?
Voting by proxy can be particularly useful if you are overseas in a country too far away to send back
a postal vote in time for the election. It means that you appoint someone you trust to vote on your
behalf. We advise Service personnel and their families abroad to vote by proxy.
What arrangements are you making to enable Service personnel serving in Afghanistan to
vote?
MOD has been working with MoJ and the Electoral Commission to devise a scheme which would
deliver ballot papers to and from Afghanistan in time for them to be counted. This involves using a
facility to sort and pack ballot papers for airfreight to units/individuals serving in Camp Bastion,
Kandahar or Kabul and, on their return, for the sorting and distribution of sealed postal ballots to the
Returning Officers in constituencies around the UK. Units will be required to facilitate arrangements
for Service personnel to cast their vote in theatre and to ensure enveloped ballot papers are collected
and packaged for airfreight for their return to the UK. Nonetheless, operational priorities prevail so we
cannot guarantee this scheme will work for every Service person in Afghanistan.
I read somewhere that there might be problems with postal votes going to and coming back
from Afghanistan - are you going to run any special flights?
The electoral time frame is particularly tight. We are not providing any special or additional flights -
see response above to 'What arrangements are you making to enable Service personnel serving in
Afghanistan to vote?'.
Are you making any special arrangements to enable other Service personnel based overseas
(for example in Germany, Cyprus and the Falklands) to be able to vote by post?
MoJ continue their endeavours to examine how postal voting arrangements for families in Germany
can be improved as well as those for personnel and families in other overseas locations - they aim to
identify a comprehensive solution for the next Parliament.
Why are Service personnel in Afghanistan getting special treatment?
These arrangements recognise the specific operational circumstances of our personnel serving in
Afghanistan. This work will help to develop potential longer term solutions for our wider Service
community living and serving overseas.

In a survey carried out by the Ministry of Defence after the 2005 General Election, 60% of  a random sample of service personnel said they were registered to vote and 13% did not know whether they were or not.

Of those who were NOT registered, 42% claimed they had not received a form. 25% were "not interested in voting", 23%"did not know how to register" and 15% intended to but did not get round to it.

The Sunday Times reports (04 April 2010) that [name omitted] returned from Iraq with a distinguished war record — and ended up in prison. The newspaper says that our jails are swollen with former soldiers: why can’t they stay out of trouble? The figures, previously mentioned on the BAFF website, remain controversial.

(31 Mar 2010) With a General Election expected to be called soon, Service Personnel are being encouraged to exercise their right to vote, deployed personnel being recommended to appoint a proxy if possible. For those who are likely to be in Afghanistan during the General Election,

The Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice, Michael Wills MP, had more to say in Parliament on 23 Mar 2010 about the 'bespoke' arrangements for service personnel in Afghanistan to vote by post if they prefer. MPs also heard about ongoing consultations (which include BAFF) regarding future voting arrangements for service personnel, and the Conservatives confirmed that they would co-operate in that exercise in a cross-party way.

The Ministry of Defence issued the following response on 22 Mar 2010 to media articles such as Weakness in postal voting may disenfranchise thousands of troops (Sunday Times)

Votes for Service personnel

There is speculation in the media that due to time and logistical restraints not all Service personnel will be able to vote in the upcoming General Election. An MOD spokesperson said: "We have had successful campaigns getting Service voters to register and we are working closely with the Ministry of Justice to make suitable provisions for Service personnel in Afghanistan - including fast-tracking postal voting forms. However, due to operational priorities, no plan we can put in place will be infallible but personnel still have the option of voting by proxy."

Peter Oborne writes in The Daily Mail (20 March 2010) that:

In fact, only a relatively small percentage of the Armed Forces voted in the 2005 General Election.

Now, with a General Election barely seven weeks away, the same thing seems likely to happen again.

Disgracefully, Labour ministers were warned that the law discriminated against servicemen and women. Douglas Young, of the British Armed Forces Federation, published a brilliant document called Silence in the Ranks, which revealed the scale of the problem.

(15 March 2010) On the same day as The Daily Telegraph reports that Army training exercises have been cut by a third to save money, The Times reports that a mother’s battle to ensure that soldiers in war zones have their human rights protected will be challenged by the Government today, claiming that commanders will fear being sued for decisions made in the heat of battle.

BAFF representation in Service Voting Working Group

(11 March 2010) The three Service Family Federations and the British Armed Forces Federation are represented in a Minister-led Service Voter Working Group, along with the Ministry of Justice and MoD and the Electoral Commission. The following update is provided courtesy of the Naval Families Federation:

Gordon Brown has been asked in Prime Minister's Questions for assurances that service personnel overseas will be able to vote in the coming General Election.

(10 March 2010) In addition to acceptance of the AFPRB recommendations, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has also announced today an increase to the Operational Allowance or "bonus" given to deployed personnel in operational locations such as Afghanistan.

Cases that drag on for months or even years can have a significantly harmful effect on the health and welfare of all those involved. Despite improvements I cannot give an assurance this year that the Service complaints system is yet working efficiently, effectively or fairly.

Dr Susan Atkins, Service Complaints Commissioner

(BBC, 1 March 2010) The Conservative party has led a debate on the government's record on defence, accusing the prime minister of showing an "instinctive lack of interest" in the armed forces.

(26 February 2010)  Douglas Young, BAFF Executive Chairman and author of Silence in the Ranks, was an early morning guest for BBC Radio Wiltshire (programme presented from a cafe in Tidworth) and BBC Radio Solent (Portsmouth). He also contributed to a TV news package for BFBS. The subject of all three broadcasts was voting arrangements for service personnel and their husbands, wives or civil partners, mainly in the context of the fast approaching General Election 2010, but future arrangements were also touched upon.

(BAFF, Thursday 25 February 2010). The latest electoral registration statistics for Scotland show another fall in the number of service personnel who are registered as service voters. UPDATE: UK-wide electoral registration statistics now available

The Conservative Whip and former army officer Andrew Robathan MP had a prominent role - before and after the 2005 General Election - in drawing parliamentary attention to service voting issues.

From Defence Oral Questions, House of Commons, 22 February 2010:

Andrew Rosindell (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Romford, Conservative)

Can the Minister confirm that all service personnel are being given all the correct information to ensure that they are able to cast their vote in forthcoming elections?

From The Times, February 15, 2010, by Fiona Hamilton

The British National Party was last night accused of plumbing new depths after it hijacked an online campaign to celebrate an amputee soldier’s birthday. Military officials described the political stunt as shameful and condemned the far-Right party for exploiting the predicament of wounded soldiers.

Adam Downey was a signaller with the Royal Corps of Signals when he was hit by a car in Afghanistan at 19. He says changes to the AFCS would make a "massive difference" to his life

BAFF Executive Douglas Young was interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio Wales about an expected Government announcement today (10 Feb 2010) of further improvements to the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme for personnel injured on duty after 5 April, 2005. In welcoming improvements, Young supported the call by The Royal British Legion in their Election Manifesto for the Scheme in future to be kept under continuous review.

In his BBC Radio Wales interview, Young expressed concern that today's expected announcement was also preparing the ground for a more rigorous policy in respect of personnel who were unable to return to full military fitness as a result of injury or sickness. Young also commented on a call by the National Audit Office for Defence Chiefs and the NHS to deal with the consequences of a rise in the number of troops requiring treatment or evacuation from Afghanistan.

Spending on defence over the last 12 years has not matched the demands made on our armed forces, and the equipment programme is underfunded by nearly £35 billion, writes Antonia Cox in More bang for the buck: how we can get better value from the defence budget, published on Monday 1 February by the Centre for Policy Studies.

Both major parties are committed to a Strategic Defence Review following the general election. But Antonia Cox argues that besides the hard choices to be made in an SDR, the MoD must show that it has learned the lessons of past failures in military procurement and that we can get better value from our equipment budget. ...

The public wants to see service personnel to be properly equipped. That is more important than local industrial considerations. The good news is that by learning the lessons of previous failures in defence procurement, it should be possible to deliver more for less.

• Centre for Policy Studies: More bang for the buck
• More bang for the buck (PDF report)

Iraq Inquiry: operational equipment.

British forces went into Iraq without enough body armour because planning for the war took place “at the last minute”, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup told the inquiry into the conflict.

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent, The Daily Telegraph

Published: 12:35PM GMT 01 Feb 2010

Sir Jock, the head of the Armed Forces, also told the Chilcot inquiry that military aircraft programmes were not properly funded in the run-up to the war.

He was in charge of defence equipment in 2002 and 2003. He told the inquiry that several mistakes were made in the years and months before the war.

Sir Jock admitted that some troops sent into Iraq did not have the proper desert combat clothing and boots, because supplies did not reach the right units.

He also said that some troops did not get the body armour they should have had.

“The other area where we could have done better is Enhanced Combat Body Armour. We didn’t have enough of that in theatre at the time," he said.

“It was all being done so rapidly at the last minute so no one knew who had what.”

• Full article at Telegraph.co.uk

BAFF has accepted that there is no practical prospect of the necessary changes to electoral legislation, let alone the complex technical and administrative arrangements, being achieved in time to allow electronic voting by service personnel and their families in the UK General Election which could take place in May 2010.

The possibility of new voting arrangements such as electronic voting for service voters overseas is, however, being looked at with a view to consideration for possible inclusion in future electoral legislation.

UPDATE MARCH 2010 - Some links about electronic voting or 'e-Voting':

From a Times article by Professor Michael Clarke, Director of the Royal United Services Insititute:

from Martin Givens, More guile needed in the Afghan game, Sunday Times 24 January 2010:

No visitor to the British army base in Lashkar Gah, Helmand, could fail to be moved by the quiet sense of purpose of the officers and the cheery idealism of the men and women — hard to appreciate back home when the news is a daily diet of explosions and death. Soldiers spoke of the villages they had helped, the wells dug, the bridges built. Winning hearts and minds on their lips sounds less a tired old slogan, more a vocation.

UPDATE 22 February: The Government again confirmed in Defence Questions today, in answer to a question from Andrew Rosindell MP (Conservative), that emergency measures are being put in place for postal voting from Afghanistan. See Have all service personnel been given all the information to ensure they can cast their vote?

• Are you likely to be on Op HERRICK at the time of the next General Election? The Government has revealed in Parliament that planning is in progress to give you a better chance of successfully voting by post. If this affects you, we suggest you wait out for further info to be issued soon through your unit, and which we will repeat on this website.
• The three Service Family Federations and the British Armed Forces Federation (BAFF) are actively liaising with the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Defence and the Electoral Commission. Members of Parliament have also been consulted.

But this is not an argument that can or should be left to the military chiefs or the boffins. In the end it is also about the kind of British military effort that fits with the kind of nation we want to be. It is a debate that should be at the heart of the general election campaign too.

From a Guardian Editorial, 19 January 2010

And from Thomas Harding in The Daily Telegraph: Whitehall's civil war will decide our place in the world.

Last Friday Plymouth Sutton Linda Gilroy visited the Royal Navy's premier training establishment, HMS Raleigh.

The visit was part of her attachment to the Royal Navy with the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme, which is designed to give MPs a better understanding of life in the military.