Resident’s anger at being denied vote in EU referendum

A man who has lived at the same Holbeach Drove address for 40 years was furious at being denied the chance to vote in the EU referendum.

Michael Lawson was stunned to discover that he was not on the electoral register when he arrived at the polling station. Two other members of his family in Holbeach Drove Gate were also not registered.
South Holland District Council claims it was because the household had not responded to repeated requests for information.

Michael (71) said: “I didn’t get a polling card but I expected to be on the list when I went to vote.
“All the houses were in order on the list and I found the one next door to us.

“I’ve never had any trouble voting before.
“I’m a bit annoyed because I feel strongly about the issues and I would like to have voted.”

Mr Lawson went to see council officers on the same day. He said: “I was told ‘you can’t vote but we’ll put you on the register for the future’. I told them ‘you had no trouble sending me the rates bill’.”

A council spokesman said: “Following the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration in July 2014 further information was required by us to verify the identity of the individuals.
“The property was sent a household enquiry form on three occasions in July, August and September 2015 – no response was received. A further chase was sent in November 2015 to which again no response was received.

“As no response was received when the register was published in December 2015 the individual was removed as per legislation.
“The individual was not sent a poll card for the PCC election in May 2016 as he was not on the register at this time.”