Prisoner voting in Europe

Prisoners cannot vote
Austria, Armenia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Russia, Hungary, Liechtenstein, UK
Most prisoners can vote
Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Nether- lands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia
All prisoners can vote
Albania, Bosnia & Herzego- vina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Spain, Sweden,Switzerland,Ukraine

How do other European countries deal with votes for prisoners? The answer is that there is a wide range of approaches writes Paul Sullivan

Following the General Election in Britain, in which convicted prisoners were banned from taking part, Inside Time decided to have a look around Europe to see what attitude some of our neighbours have to prisoners voting. The Council of Europe have said that, in general, prisoners should be allowed to vote and Britain seems to be the odd man out in Europe by not allowing convicted and sentenced prisoners to vote.

France
All people in custody are allowed to vote including those who have been sentenced except when their sentence entails the forfeiture of their civic rights.
Prisoners vote by proxy. Where they have a last registered address, the person authorised to vote for them goes to that district to vote. If they didn’t have a registered address then one is established for them and there are charities which will do this.

Denmark
The Danish Ministry of Justice told us that any person, who has attained the age of 18 years, and is a permanent resident, can vote in Danish elections, unless the person has been deprived of his or her legal capacity under a guardianship order. To vote in a General Election or a referendum, the voter must also be a national of Denmark.

Prisoners in Denmark have the same rights to participate in elections as other voters, if they meet the general requirements. The length of the sentence does not influence on the right to vote; neither does the kind of crime a person is convicted for.
Prisoners in Denmark vote by postal voting. The administrative head of the institution (prison, detention facility etc.) is responsible for the appointment of members of the administrative staff to collect the votes although the voting still meets the requirements of secret ballot.

Germany
There are 17 different election laws in the 16 German states and the German Federal State. In the Federal election law all German prisoners from the age of 18 up are allowed to vote. There are only some exceptional circumstances where a prisoner’s voting right may be denied – for instance, if the prisoner has committed an unlawful act in a state of insanity and is now committed to a mental hospital.

Courts may prevent a convicted prisoner from taking part in the Bundestag election for two to five years for committing the following crimes: crimes against peace, treason, endangering the democratic state or external national security as well as offences against constitutional
organs, national defence or public order.