#EUVote: community at the heart of participation
This project aims to support 3 community partners working with marginalised EU and third-country citizens to integrate voter awareness into their general offer on advice,
welfare and community cohesion support.
The work will be concentrated in the London Boroughs of Enfield, Barking & Dagenham, and Newham, which are primarily served by the community partners on the ground.
Co-production of resources on "Why vote" and "How to vote"
We will offer a community led co-production approach to identifying barriers faced by these groups and designing resources according to their identified needs.
The resources aim to provide clarity to eligible EU citizens on their voting rights and how these have been affected by the Elections Act (2022).
First of all, to clarify, the voting rights of EU Londoners do not change until after the May 2024 election.
Whilst EU citizens under the Withdrawal agreement who were granted Settled Status retain full voting and candidacy rights (even they with full voting rights are underrepresented as voters due to the intricacies of their national systems and voting habits) and are a long way from understanding the coming changes to voting procedures.
Those with Pre-Settled status who arrived after December 2020 have an even more complicated situation, with voting arrangements aligned to reciprocal arrangements.
In general, the newly proposed regulations / requirements will cause further confusion affecting both groups.
Furthermore, an extra layer of complexity exists with EU citizens from the ex-Commonwealth/Common Travel Area (Malta, Cyprus, Ireland) where voting arrangements are affected differently.
Integrating voter awareness into community partners offering
We are delivering this project in partnership with 3 community groups with whom we have been working for the last two years supporting them in assisting vulnerable EU
citizens and third-country nationals who have needed to register for the EU Settlement Scheme.
They will undertake the targeted and impartial democracy education and registration activities in their locations with a primary focus on photo Voter ID and free Voter Authority Certificates, including adding democracy education sessions to existing interventions.
Social media campaign
Our Resource hub attracted over 2,600 visitors this year and has an annual visitor rate of over 4,000 users online. It is tailored to being functional and easy to use by individuals and community groups and leaders looking for support. It is currently split into 6 sub sections: Managing your status, Making an application, Life after Brexit, Voting rights, Knowing your rights, and Working in the UK.
The resources developed in the course of this project will exist within the Hub and be publicly available beyond the project’s end date free of charge and will be promoted with a targeted social media campaign.
In addition to having the resources digitally accessible on the Hub, we will produce physical copies of the resources for distribution within the selected target groups to take into account the most marginalised users that are digitally excluded or have different access needs.
Our community partners
Supported by the Greater London Authority, City Hall, Kamal Chunchie Way, London E16 1ZE. Printed and promoted by New Europeans UK, The Davenant Centre, 179-181 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1DN.