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Paragraph 2 Additional requirements for applications on grounds of physical incapacity

Changes not yet applied. Later legislation changes this provision in ways not yet written into the text below:

(1)

An application to vote by proxy for a particular or indefinite period under article 8(2)(b) shall specify the physical incapacity by reason of which the application is made.

(2)

Subject to sub-paragraphs (3) to (5), such an application shall be attested and signed by—

(a)

a registered medical practitioner,

(b)

a registered nurse within the meaning of section 7(7) of the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Act 1997f1,

(c)

a Christian Science practitioner,

(d)

in the case of an application in which the applicant states that he is resident in a residential care home within the meaning of section 1 of the Registered Homes Act 1984f2 which is required to be registered under Part I of the Act, the person registered under that Act as carrying on that home,

(e)

in the case of an application in which the applicant states that he is resident in residential accommodation provided by a local authority under section 21(1) of the National Assistance Act 1948f3, the matron or other person in charge of that accommodation, or

(f)

in the case of an application in which the applicant states that he resides in premises forming one of a group of premises—

(i)

which are provided for persons of pensionable age or physically disabled persons, and

(ii)

for which there is a resident warden,

that warden.

(3)

But a person may not attest an application under article 8(2)(b) by virtue of sub-paragraph (2)(a), (b) or (c) unless he is treating the applicant for the physical incapacity specified in accordance with sub-paragraph (1) or the applicant is receiving care from him in respect of that incapacity.

(4)

The person attesting an application under sub-paragraph (2) shall state—

(a)

his name and address and the qualification by virtue of which he is authorised to attest the application and, where the person attests the application by virtue sub-paragraph (2)(a), (b) or (c), that he is treating the applicant for the physical incapacity specified in accordance with sub-paragraph (1) or the applicant is receiving care from him in respect of that incapacity,

(b)

that, to the best of his knowledge and belief, the applicant is suffering from the physical incapacity specified in the application and that he cannot reasonably be expected to go in person to his allotted polling station or to vote unaided there by reason of that incapacity, and

(c)

that, to the best of his knowledge and belief, the physical incapacity specified in the application is likely to continue either indefinitely or for a period specified by the person attesting the application.

(5)

Sub-paragraphs (2) and (4) shall not apply where—

(a)

the application is based on the applicant’s blindness and the applicant is registered as a blind person by a local authority, which is specified in the application, under section 29(4)(g) of the National Assistance Act 1948f4, or

(b)

the application states that the applicant is (under section 73 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992f5) in receipt of the higher rate of the mobility component of a disability living allowance (payable under section 71 of that Act) because of the physical incapacity specified in the application in pursuance of sub-paragraph (1).

(6)

The fact that an applicant is registered with a local authority under section 29(4)(g) of the National Assistance Act 1948 shall be deemed sufficient evidence that he is eligible for an absent vote on the grounds set out in article 8(2)(b).

(7)

In this paragraph and paragraphs 3 and 4, “his allotted polling station”, in relation to an elector, means the polling station allotted or likely to be allotted to him under this Order.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1

1997 c. 24.

f2

1984 c. 23.

f3

1948 c. 29.

f4

1948 c. 29.

f5

1992 c. 4.