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Wednesday 22 June 2016 11:30 am

EU referendum: Record number of people registered to vote, says Electoral Commission

By: Jake Cordell

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A record number of people are eligible to vote in tomorrow's EU referendum, after the biggest ever voter registration drive helped hundreds of thousands get their names on the electoral roll.

Provisional figures released by the elections watchdog, the Electoral Commission, show 46.5m people signed up to vote tomorrow – 150,000 more than could have turned out at last year's general election.

More than two million people joined the electoral roll alone between December and June, the Electoral Commission added. 

Where are the voters?

Unsurprisingly, of the 46.5m people who can vote tomorrow, the vast majority – 83.7 per cent are in England. Scotland claims 8.5 per cent of the votes, with Wales on 4.8 per cent and Northern Ireland having the smallest say in tomorrow's vote, with just 2.7 per cent. 

Another 24,117 – or 0.05 per cent – hail from the UK outpost of Gibraltar. David Cameron had been scheduled to give a campaign rally there on Thursday, but this was cancelled following the murder of Labour MP Cox.

  Total electorate Change since December
England 38,956,824 4.8 per cent
Scotland 3,986,898 Three per cent
Wales 2,270,743 4.7 per cent
Northern Ireland 1,260,995 1.9 per cent
Gibraltar 24,117 N/A

The capital will have a bigger say over the outcome of the referendum than Scotland, with a total of 5.4 million people eligible to vote in London tomorrow – making up more than 11 per cent of all eligible voters.

More than 400,000 registered to vote in London between December and June, the Electoral Commission said.

The South East, however, is the region with the most voters – at 6.47m, while Northern Ireland and the North East both have fewer than 2m.

  Total electorate Change since December Proportion of total
South East 6,472,915 5.6 per cent 13.9 per cent
London 5,424,289 6.6 per cent 11.7 per cent
North West 5,237,900 3.9 per cent 11.3 per cent
Eastern 4,398,430 4.4 per cent 9.5 per cent
South West 4,138,015 5.9 per cent 8.9 per cent
West Midlands 4,116,119 3.9 per cent 8.9 per cent
Scotland 3,986,898 3.0 per cent 8.6 per cent
Yorkshire and the Humber 3,873,908 4.7 per cent 8.3 per cent
East Midlands 3,385,057 4.1 per cent 7.3 per cent
Wales 2,270,057 4.7 per cent 4.9 per cent
North East 1,934,228 3.8 per cent 4.2 per cent
Northern Ireland 1,260,955 1.9 per cent 2.7 per cent
Gibraltar 24,117 N/A 0.05 per cent

In total, there are 382 local counting districts, or areas, that will be announcing results in the early hours of Friday morning.

However, because the result will be decided on whoever wins the most votes across the entire country, there are no constituencies. That means that the size of these areas varies markedly – which has implications for what results we should be paying a close eye on over the course of the night.

The biggest single result could come from Birmingham, where the results from its 707,000-strong electorate will be declared at 4am. Other big cities announcing their result in one go include Leeds (543,000), Glasgow (450,000), Sheffield (393,000) and Edinburgh (346,000).

Largest electorates

Area Size Proportion of total
Birmingham 707,210 1.5 per cent
Leeds 543,037 1.2 per cent
Glasgow City 449,731 One per cent
Cornwall 419,738 0.9 per cent
Sheffield 393,055 0.9 per cent

Smallest electorates

Area Size Proportion of total
Isles of Scilly 1,799 0.004 per cent
Canada 5,986 0.013 per cent
Orkney Islands 16,658 0.036 per cent
Shetland Islands 17,375 0.037 per cent
Eilean Siar 21,259 0.046 per cent

Of course, turnout will vary across the country, so it is hard to guess exactly how many voters from each area will cast their ballot, though it seems a reasonable assumption that Birmingham could be the single biggest result on the night.

Use the table below to check how big your constituency is, then head here to find our when the results will be coming in.

How many voters are registered in each area?

[calculator id="67"]

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