Before the Representation of the People Act 1949, in-patients in psychiatric settings were usually denied the right to vote in the UK General Elections; instead they were considered unsuitable and labelled (by common law) as 'idiots' or 'lunatics'. Furthermore, the 1949 Act disenfranchised those with mental disorders by refusing to allow patients to register to vote while under the care of psychiatric institutions. This ruling was not revoked until the Electoral Administration Act 2006, 58 years after the advent of 'universal suffrage' in the UK. Currently, patients on psychiatric in-patient units (either informally or detained under civil sections of the Mental Health Act 1983) have a right to register to vote either in person, by post, or by proxy (under the Electoral Administration Act 2006).
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