Paragraph 18 Requirement of secrecy
Section 66(1) to (6) of the 1983 Actf1 applies for the purposes of the referendum but with the following modifications.
Subsection (1) has effect for those purposes as if—
for paragraphs (a) to (c) there were substituted—
“(a)the Chief Counting Officer, and every Regional Counting Officer and counting officer, attending at a polling station in the United Kingdom,
(b)every deputy of such an officer so attending,
(c)every presiding officer and clerk so attending,
(d)every referendum agent, polling agent and counting agent so attending, and
(e)every person so attending by virtue of any of sections 6A to 6D of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000,”,
in paragraph (i) for “elector or proxy for an elector” there were substituted “person”, and
in paragraph (ii) for “elector” there were substituted “person”.
The references in subsections (1) and (4) to the closure of the poll are to be read, in relation to the referendum, as references to the closure of the poll in the United Kingdom or Gibraltar, whichever is the later.
Subsections (2)(b), (3)(b) and (c), (4)(d) and (5) have effect for the purposes of the referendum as if for “the candidate for whom” there were substituted “the referendum answer for which”.
Subsection (3)(d) has effect for those purposes as if for “the name of the candidate for whom” there were substituted “the referendum answer for which”.
Subsection (5) has effect for those purposes as if—
for “blind voter” there were substituted “voter with disabilities”, and
at the end there were inserted—
““Voter with disabilities” has the meaning given by regulation 36(11) of the the European Union Referendum (Conduct) Regulations 2016.”
Annotations
Footnotes
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Section 66 was amended by paragraph 2 of Schedule 3 to the Representation of the People Act 1985 (c.50) and paragraphs 69, 82 and 86 of Schedule 1 to the Electoral Administration Act 2006 (c.22). There are other amendments that are not relevant to these Regulations.