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Paragraph 59A Notification of a rejected postal voting documentF1F8

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

(1)

Where a relevant absent voter appears on the list compiled under paragraph 55(4) F2, or on the list compiled under paragraph 55(6) with an indication in accordance with paragraph 55(6)(d) that a postal ballot paper was included in rejected postal voting documents,—

(a)

the registration officer responsible for the personal identifiers record that contains information in respect of the absent voter must notify the absent voter (and the elector if the absent voter is a proxy) that the ballot paper concerned was rejected because

(F3i)

the local returning officer was not satisfied that the postal voting statement was duly completed

(F4ii)

the postal ballot paper was handed in at a polling station and the relevant officer—

(aa)

was not satisfied that the return of postal voting documents form had been completed properly and provided the required information,

(bb)

suspected that the person handing it in had handed in postal ballot papers on behalf of more than the permitted number of electors, or

(cc)

suspected that the person handing it in was a political campaigner who was committing an offence under paragraph 9A;

(iii)

the postal ballot paper was a left behind postal voting document;

(b)

the registration officer must send the notification within the period of three months beginning with the date of the poll at which the ballot paper was rejected; and

(c)

the notification must include information as to which of the specified reasons referred to

(F5i)

in paragraph 55(5) applied to the postal voting statement

(F6ii)

paragraph 55(7) applied to the absent voter’s postal ballot paper.

(2)

The registration officer is not obliged to send a notification—

(a)

to any person who is no longer shown as voting by post in the relevant record at the time the registration officer proposes to send the notification; or

(b)

where the registration officer suspects that an offence may have been committed in relation to the postal ballot paper, the postal voting statement or the absent voter’s registration as an elector F7except where that offence is committed by a political campaigner under paragraph 9A.

(3)

A notification issued under sub-paragraph (1) may also include any other information that the registration officer considers appropriate, but a notification must not include information held on the personal identifiers record.

(4)

For the purposes of this paragraph and paragraph 59B, a “relevant absent voter” means an absent voter who—

(a)

appears on the postal voters list by virtue of paragraph 4(2)(a), or

(b)

appears as a proxy on the list of proxies by virtue of paragraph 4(3)(a).

Annotations

Textual amendments

F1

Sch. 2 paras. 59A, 59B inserted (6.4.2014) by The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Amendment) Order 2014 (S.I. 2014/921), arts. 1(5), 29 (with art. 1(5))

F2

Words in Sch. 2 para. 59A(1) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending S.I.) by The Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling and Secrecy) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1225),regs. 1(2), 8(6)(k)(ii)

F3

Words in Sch. 2 para. 59A(1)(a) renumbered as Sch. 2 para. 59A(1)(a)(i) (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending S.I.) by The Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling and Secrecy) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1225), regs. 1(2), 8(6)(k)(iii)(aa)

F4

Sch. 2 para. 59A(1)(a)(ii)(iii) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending S.I.) by The Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling and Secrecy) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1225), regs. 1(2), 8(6)(k)(iii)(bb)

F5

Words in Sch. 2 para. 59A(1)(c) renumbered as Sch. 2 para. 59A(1)(c)(i) (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending S.I.) by The Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling and Secrecy) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1225), regs. 1(2), 8(6)(k)(iv)(aa)

F6

Sch. 2 para. 59A(1)(c)(ii) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending S.I.) by The Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling and Secrecy) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1225), regs. 1(2), 8(6)(k)(iv)(bb)

F7

Words in Sch. 2 para. 59A(2)(b) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending S.I.) by The Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling and Secrecy) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1225), regs. 1(2), 8(6)(k)(v)

F8

Word in Sch. 2 para. 59A heading substituted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending S.I.) by The Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling and Secrecy) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1225), regs. 1(2), 8(6)(k)(i)