It is not compulsory to vote in Britain and there are concerns ethnic minorities are less likely to turn up to the polls to vote.
Polls suggest there is strong support for both sides in Britain's EU referendum.
And researchers and campaigners in the country say around 4 million black and ethnic minority voters will have a vital say in which way the result goes.
Simon Wooley is the director of Operation Black Vote, which campaigns for black and ethnic minorities to engage with politics.
He says, within minority communities, there are voters who support both remaining in as well as leaving the European Union.
But he says, whichever way they vote, he believes the group will play a deciding factor in the outcome of the referendum.
"This is a critical debate, and it's tightly contested -- fiercely contested, too. And I think that the 4 million black, minority ethnic voters could play a deciding factor. It's that close. I think that the majority want to remain, but there is a significant, I guess, number, percentage, that would like to leave, too. So there's not a homogenous bloc, if you like. But in a referendum, in an election that could be won or lost by the thousands, maybe tens of thousands, that urging people to go to the polls is a critical element that could decide one way or another."
A British Election Study conducted by a consortium of British academic institutions shows two-thirds of black and ethnic-minority voters favour staying in the European Union.
Rakib Ehsan is a researcher specialising in ethnic minorities and politics at the Royal Holloway University in London.
He says there are many reasons for those minority voters who prefer to remain, including concerns about immigration.
"When it came to providing skills to the UK economy, supporting the National Health Service or whether or not immigration depressed the wages for British workers, it seemed like ethnic minorities generally adopted a more pro-immigration position in comparison to the general population. But there are also a number of issues as to why ethnic minorities could be more supportive of the EU membership. It could be adopting an internationalist outlook to counter the resurging conservative nativism that we're witnessing in the United Kingdom."
It is not compulsory to vote in Britain, and the British Election Survey has found black and ethnic minority voters are up to 20 per cent less likely to head to the polls than white voters.
Mr Wooley says he has been trying to encourage the group of voters to take part in the referendum.
"There is a disproportion of minorities not voting, because they see the institutions as unrepresentative and uninclusive. We've been working really hard in the last weeks -- and months, actually. We've been urging people to say, 'Look, the future of our nation depends upon our participation, but we must be involved and know that it involves us. We can have a fantastic say in it.' And so I'm hoping we'll see the biggest turnout ever of black, ethnic-minority communities in this referendum. Unprecedented voter turnout is our goal."
The British Election Survey says white British voters are considerably more Eurospectic and in favour of leaving the European Union.
Mr Ehsan says that means low ethnic minority voter turnout would be a concern for the "Remain" campaign.
"For certain ethnic minority voters, Europe might not be a prominent issue in their minds, in comparison to, say, white British voters. It could also be a problem of mobilisation, perhaps both the Remain campaign or the Leave campaign. They haven't successfully engaged with this ethnic minority voters in the United Kingdom in the build-up to the referendum itself."
Kael Oakley is an ethnic minority voter who will be voting to remain in the European Union.
He says everybody should go to the polls and the result will affect everyone in Britain.
"I'm going out to vote, because it's a really important referendum for the future of the UK and Europe, and for the entire world to a further extent. And I just think it's really important for everyone to go out and vote, because it is everyone's future, and we should all have a part in deciding what the future of our country will be."
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