The Government responded on 16 March to a written question "To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent efforts they have made to ensure Armed Forces personnel posted overseas are able to vote in the General Election." Government spokesman Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD) confirmed this significant improvement in electoral arrangements:

(Independent, 9 November) Ministers are accused of a "scandalous failure" to help Britain's servicemen and women exercise their democratic right to vote in the next general election after it emerged that more than 60,000 are still unregistered – one-third of the regular armed forces.

Electoral participation by armed forces personnel has again been raised in parliament. The Liberal Democrat peer Lord Roberts of Llandudno asked the Government what proposals they have to enable British military and other personnel serving overseas to vote in any elections in 2010.

If not, it's time to get registered before it's too late, and it's never been easier.

The Electoral Commission's AboutMyVote website has been revamped to help busy people to register quickly.

You fill in your postcode and when you download a form, the address to send it to is already there on the form.

UPDATE MARCH 2010:  A special voter registration form is being distributed for your exclusive use, if you are likely to be serving in Afghanistan at the time of the General Election, which could well be on 6th May. Details through your unit. BAFF Members and BAFF Military Supporters are welcome to consult us in case of difficulty.

The Electoral Commission - the independent elections watchdog - and the Ministry of Defence have launched a joint campaign to encourage service personnel to make sure they’re registered and able to vote in the next General Election. Information about registering to vote, including how to apply for a proxy or postal vote, and a downloadable registration form can be found at www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/armedforces.

BAFF has learned that postal ballots for the EU membership referendum on 23 June are to be sent out to service voters between 23 and 27 May "to ensure plenty of time for their votes to be counted".

Householders - look out for the 'annual canvass' form which will be delivered to your household soon!

Make sure that voter details are up-to-date on the electoral register, as a general election must be held by June 2010 and could be called at any time.

• AboutMyVote website, by the Electoral Commission

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':

The Ministry of Defence has published the first interim report on the Military Covenant, as required by the Armed Forces Act 2011. We quote in full this copyrighted story by Huffington Post UK, because of its obvious interest, but also because of its multiple references to "those representing rank-and-file-officers".

They mean the Mod-supported service family federations - but not any federation specifically representing personnel. In fact, the MoD's report goes out of its way to say that personnel are not entitled to (collective) representation by a federation.