The question is already being asked, and is likely to be heard more frequently as this six-week campaign progresses.
Fifty years ago in 1974 a general election was called on 7 February with voters going to the polls 21 days later.
A three-week election campaign is now impossible. Under the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, twenty-five working days must elapse between the dissolution of parliament and pollng day. One of the reasons why such a period is needed is to enable overseas voters to return their ballot papers by post, an increasingly hazardous exercise as the postal system falters.
The number of overseas voters is set to increase following the Elections Act 2022 which conferred voting rights on British citizens abroad for life, removing the fifteen-year limit which had previously applied. The Government estimates that there are around some three million people living abroad who are now eligible to vote as a result of the change.
Online voting has been ruled out because of security concerns.
