Britain votes in historic referendum on EU

Millions of Britons began voting Thursday in a bitterly-fought, knife-edge referendum that could tear up the island nation’s EU membership and spark the greatest emergency of the bloc’s 60-year history. A record 46.5 million voters were registered to decide Britain’s future in the 28-nation European Union, which was born out of a determination to unite […]

Millions of Britons began voting Thursday in a bitterly-fought, knife-edge referendum that could tear up the island nation’s EU membership and spark the greatest emergency of the bloc’s 60-year history.
A record 46.5 million voters were registered to decide Britain’s future in the 28-nation European Union, which was born out of a determination to unite in lasting peace after the carnage of two world wars.
Across much of southeast England, many voters braved heavy rain and thunderstorms, which flooded some London streets, to reach polling stations.
The once-in-a-generation referendum asks: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”
In one of the last opinion polls before the vote, “Remain” took a lead with 48 percent, notably ahead of “Leave” on 42 percent. The rest were undecided, said the telephone survey by ComRes for the Daily Mail and ITV News.
Two other polls published on the eve of the referendum – both conducted over the Internet – had put the “Leave” camp ahead by one or two percentage points, well within the margin of error.