The 2015 General Election is nearly upon us (and the deadline for registering to vote was on April 20) but in Wales there will be another chance to vote in 2016 with the Assembly elections.

The issue of registering care home residents to vote is covered in a useful blog (The Small Places: Mental Capacity and Voting Rights) – see link below.

Is mental incapacity a reason to prevent a person from voting?

The key points are:

• No person has a right to prevent a person from voting on capacity related grounds.  Not a care home, not a deputy or donee of a Lasting Power of Attorney, not an election officer, nobody.
• A lack of mental capacity is not a legal incapacity to vote: persons who meet the other registration qualifications are eligible for registration regardless of their mental capacity or lack thereof.
• A person cannot vote on behalf of a person on the grounds that they lack capacity (through a proxy, or acting as a deputy or donee of a Lasting Power of Attorney).

Read the blog in full HERE