{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/senedd-cymru-representation-of-the-people-order-2025/article-6",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/senedd-cymru-representation-of-the-people-order-2025/article-6.json",
  "legislation": "wsi/2025/864",
  "legislation_title": "The Senedd Cymru (Representation of the People) Order 2025",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/senedd-cymru-representation-of-the-people-order-2025",
  "path": "article/6",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "6",
  "heading": "Absent vote at Senedd elections for a particular or an indefinite period",
  "text": "(1) Where a person applies to the registration officer to vote by post at Senedd elections, whether for an indefinite period or for a particular period specified in the application, the registration officer must grant the application if—\n(a) the registration officer is satisfied that the applicant is or will be registered in the register of electors, and\n(b) the application contains the applicant’s signature and date of birth, and meets the requirements set out in Schedule 1.\n(2) Where a person applies to the registration officer to vote by proxy at Senedd elections, whether for an indefinite period or for a particular period specified in the application, the registration officer must grant the application if—\n(a) the registration officer is satisfied that the applicant is eligible to vote by proxy at Senedd elections,\n(b) the registration officer is satisfied that the applicant is or will be registered on the register of electors, and\n(c) the application contains the applicant’s signature and date of birth, and meets the requirements set out in Schedule 1.\n(3) For the purposes of this article, a person (“P”) is eligible to vote by proxy at Senedd elections if—\n(a) P is or will be registered as a service voter,\n(b) P has an anonymous entry in the register of electors,\n(c) by reason of severe sight-impairment or other disability, P cannot reasonably be expected—\n(i) to go in person to the polling station allotted or likely to be allotted to P under this Order, or\n(ii) to vote unaided there,\n(d) P cannot reasonably be expected to go in person to the polling station allotted to P by reason of the general nature of P’s occupation, service or employment, or that of P’s spouse or civil partner,\n(e) P cannot reasonably be expected to go in person to the polling station allotted to P by reason of P’s attendance on a course provided by an educational institution, or that of P’s spouse or civil partner, or\n(f) P cannot go in person from P’s qualifying address to the polling station allotted to P without making a journey by air or sea.\n(4) The registration officer must keep a record of the persons whose applications under this article have been granted showing—\n(a) whether the applications were to vote by post or by proxy for an indefinite or a particular period, specifying that period,\n(b) in the case of those who may vote by post, the addresses provided by them in their applications as the addresses to which their ballot papers must be sent, and\n(c) in the case of those who may vote by proxy, the names and addresses of those appointed as their proxies.\n(5) The registration officer must remove a person from the record kept under paragraph (4)—\n(a) if that person applies to the registration officer to be removed,\n(b) in the case of a person who is eligible to vote by proxy by virtue of having an anonymous entry, if that person ceases to have an anonymous entry,\n(c) in the case of a registered person, if that person ceases to be registered or registered at the same qualifying address or ceases to be, or becomes, registered in pursuance of—\n(i) a service declaration, or\n(ii) a declaration of local connection,\n(d) in the case of any person shown in the record as voting by proxy, if the registration officer gives notice that the registration officer has reason to believe there has been a material change of circumstances, or\n(e) in the case of a person who applies to vote by post or by proxy for a particular period, once that period has expired.\n(6) A person shown in the record kept under paragraph (4) as voting by post may make a further application to change the method of voting to vote by proxy instead, whether for an indefinite period or a particular period as specified in the application.\n(7) Where a registration officer would be required to grant an application made under paragraph (6) if that application were an application to vote by proxy made under paragraph (2), the registration officer must amend the record accordingly.\n(8) A person shown in the record kept under paragraph (4) as voting by proxy may make a further application to change the method of voting to vote by post instead, whether for an indefinite period or for a particular period as specified in the application.\n(9) If an application made under paragraph (8) meets the requirements of Schedule 1, the registration officer must amend the record accordingly.\n(10) The registration officer may dispense with the requirement under paragraphs (1)(b) and (2)(c) for the applicant to provide a signature if the registration officer is satisfied that the applicant is unable—\n(a) to provide a signature because of any disability the applicant has,\n(b) to provide a signature because the applicant is unable to read or write, or\n(c) to sign in a consistent and distinctive way because of any such disability or inability.\n(11) The registration officer must keep a record in relation to the persons whose applications under this article have been granted showing—\n(a) their dates of birth, and\n(b) their signatures, except in cases where the registration officer in pursuance of paragraph (10) has dispensed with the requirement to provide a signature.\n(12) The record kept under paragraph (11) must be retained by the registration officer for the period prescribed in paragraph 4 of Schedule 1.",
  "extent": "E+W",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "Art. 6 in force at 18.7.2025, see art. 1(2)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "words omitted",
      "affecting": "wsi/2026/91",
      "affecting_title": "The Representation of the People (Absent Voting and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026"
    },
    {
      "type": "words omitted",
      "affecting": "wsi/2026/91",
      "affecting_title": "The Representation of the People (Absent Voting and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026"
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      "affecting_title": "The Representation of the People (Absent Voting and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026"
    },
    {
      "type": "words inserted",
      "affecting": "wsi/2026/91",
      "affecting_title": "The Representation of the People (Absent Voting and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026"
    },
    {
      "type": "words inserted",
      "affecting": "wsi/2026/91",
      "affecting_title": "The Representation of the People (Absent Voting and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026"
    },
    {
      "type": "word omitted",
      "affecting": "wsi/2026/91",
      "affecting_title": "The Representation of the People (Absent Voting and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026"
    },
    {
      "type": "words omitted",
      "affecting": "wsi/2026/91",
      "affecting_title": "The Representation of the People (Absent Voting and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026"
    },
    {
      "type": "word substituted for full stop",
      "affecting": "wsi/2026/91",
      "affecting_title": "The Representation of the People (Absent Voting and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026"
    },
    {
      "type": "inserted",
      "affecting": "wsi/2026/91",
      "affecting_title": "The Representation of the People (Absent Voting and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026"
    },
    {
      "type": "words omitted",
      "affecting": "wsi/2026/91",
      "affecting_title": "The Representation of the People (Absent Voting and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026"
    },
    {
      "type": "inserted",
      "affecting": "wsi/2026/91",
      "affecting_title": "The Representation of the People (Absent Voting and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2025/864/article/6",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T22:57:06.457930+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}