This week, the government announced its intention to reverse the Forfeiture Act of 1870, which would allow 70,000 British prison inmates the right to vote. Here is our (occasionally serious, mostly bizarre) pick of the top ten voters’ rights.
November 2010 – votes for prisoners, UK
Government expected to announce it will give the vote to 70,000 prisoners currently serving sentences in UK jails, reversing the Forfeiture Act 1870.
September 2008 – votes at 16, Austria
Austria becomes the first EU country to lower the voting age in national elections to 16.
July 2008 – votes from birth, Germany
Bill in German parliament proposes a law that would allow parents to vote for their children.
March 2000 – internet voting, Arizona
Voters able to cast their votes electronically in Arizona Democratic primary, the first binding election for public office using the net. Out of 78,000 ballots cast, over half were sent in via computer.
January 2000 – voting for your rival, Uzbekistan
Islam Karimov is re-elected president of Uzbekistan. His opponent Abdulkhafiz Dzhalalov gets 4 per cent of the vote – not including himself, as he voted for Karimov.
December 1999 – deceased voting, Chile
Ernesto Alvear, 74, from Valparaiso, declares he will never again try to vote, after being denied for the third time because records indicate he is dead.
September 1997 – votes from space, Texas
New law allows astronauts who are in space on election days to vote using email. The astronaut David Wolf casts his vote for Houston mayor from the Russian space station Mir two months later.
March 1992 – “alien voting”, Maryland
Non-citizens in Takoma Park, Maryland, are given the vote in local elections. Only six Maryland municipalities allow non-citizens to vote in city elections in the US.
January 1903 – “recall” voting, Los Angeles
LA ratifies a special election to decide whether a public office holder should be replaced before his elected term has expired.
July 1867 – lodgers who pay £10 rent per year, UK
Second Reform Bill passes third reading and grants the vote to urban working men and lodgers who pay rent of £10 a year or more.
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