"Why can’t I vote for the people who make decisions that directly affect my life?"
Raissa Balduino
This July, the Government announced a package of electoral reforms, including expansion of acceptable photo IDs, moves towards automated voter registration and most significantly, from the next General Election onwards 16-17 year-olds will have the right to vote across the UK. While I was excited to read about this extension of the franchise, one community continues to be left out of our democratic systems: migrant residents.
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I was born and raised in Brazil, where voting is allowed from the age of 16. As someone who was raised in a very politically engaged family and had been joining my parents at polling stations since I was a little girl, I eagerly waited for my turn to vote. I’ll never forget officially voting for the first time at the age of 17 and how proud I felt at that moment.
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to do the same with my daughter. I have lived in Northern Ireland for 12 years, I work, pay taxes, own a house. Why can’t I vote for the people who make decisions that directly affect my life?
My inability to vote feels even more unjust considering the ways I choose to show up for my community. I currently work at an organisation that collaborates with policymakers to deliver social change, and I am a core member of Melted Parents – a campaign group representing parents in the fight for childcare reform in Northern Ireland. I take pride in knowing that our campaign helped to politically mobilise thousands of parents – many of whom had lost faith in our local government and had never engaged in civic life. Now they're taking to the streets, writing to local politicians and MPs and, most importantly, understanding that the way they vote will directly affect their lives.
My work is about fighting for people's rights and encouraging them to use their democratic voice. I've spent countless hours in Stormont (Northern Ireland’s Parliament) lobbying and engaging with the local politicians. And yet, I - and millions of others like me - can't vote.
Why the UK voter eligibility system is unjust
Firstly, if you are British, Irish, or a Commonwealth citizen, you can vote in every election, including General Elections. However, in England and Northern Ireland, EU citizens have been split into two groups since Brexit. EU citizens who entered the UK before 2021 can vote in local elections, including for their councillors and Assembly Members in Northern Ireland. Those who entered the UK from 2021 onwards can only vote in these local elections if their country of origin secured a bilateral voting rights agreement with the UK. At the moment, only Poland, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal and Denmark signed these agreements.
If you are from any other nationality in England and Northern Ireland, you cannot vote at all. That includes myself as a Brazilian citizen, and friends from countries such as Japan, Ukraine, China, Syria and beyond.
This confusing system of voting rights doesn’t just harm migrants - it weakens democracy for everyone. When significant portions of residents are excluded from democratic participation, elected officials aren’t accountable to the full community they govern and policies on housing, healthcare and education for example, won’t reflect everyone’s needs. A democracy that excludes people who live, work and pay taxes alongside their neighbors is a weaker democracy for all.
In contrast, all residents in Scotland and Wales can vote in local and devolved elections. If I lived in Glasgow for example, I would be able to vote for my councillors and Members of the Scottish Parliament. Scotland and Wales have shown it is possible to give all residents the right to vote; they were the first to extend the right to vote to 16-17 years olds and they did that at the same time as giving migrant residents like me the right to vote.
Where is the political leadership on this issue?
The former Minister for Democracy and Homelessness, Rushanara Ali, refused to speak with campaigners about residence-based voting rights leading to a protest outside of her offices. She has since resigned from her position over conduct issues.
We deserve political leadership that will engage with their constituencies and fight for a truly representative democracy. My colleague and migrant rights activist Teresa Buczkowska recently said: “denying migrants the vote is a way for governments to send the message that migrants are ‘lesser’ than citizens.” I agree with her - it really does feel like that’s what they want us to believe. But I choose not to believe in it.
Democracy in action
While I still can’t show my daughter the importance of democracy through voting, I can show her democracy in action - by politically mobilising parents, by informing them where parties stand on childcare, by lobbying local politicians for better policies, by bringing thousands to the streets of Belfast to protest for their rights. However, activism is a privilege that not every migrant has; many lack the time, resources, or security to engage politically. That's exactly why voting rights matter: it's the most accessible way to have a democratic voice, you don't need to take time off work, speak perfect English, or put yourself in the public eye.
As someone who believes deeply in democratic processes, I look forward to the day I'll finally be able to vote; and there are real opportunities for this to happen soon. While the migrant justice movement in the UK continues to grow in response to an increasingly hostile environment, Migrant Democracy Project’s Our Home, Our Vote campaign remains one of the few using democracy as a point of intervention to secure justice for migrant communities. With the new Elections Bill being introduced, and the precedent of including the migrant vote alongside votes at 16, we are taking the opportunity to petition the Government to include migrants’ voting rights.
Last summer, we celebrated an important step forward for young people. I hope that soon, we'll also be celebrating the right to vote for all residents, regardless of where we were born.
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