Paragraph 5 Notification of rejected postal voting statementI1

England and Wales

(1)

Where an absent voter, whether an elector or a proxy, appears on the list created under paragraph 26(4) of Schedule 2 (lists of rejected postal ballot papers)—

(a)

the registration officer responsible for the personal identifiers record that contains information in respect of the absent voter must, subject to sub-paragraph (2), notify that person, and the elector if the absent voter is a proxy, that the ballot paper concerned was rejected because the returning officer was not satisfied that the postal voting statement was duly completed,

(b)

the registration officer must send the notification within the period of 3 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 in paragraph 26(5) of Schedule 2 applied to the absent voter’s postal voting statement.

(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 out the notification, or

(b)

where the registration officer suspects that an offence may have been committed in relation to the ballot paper, postal voting statement or the absent voter’s registration as an elector.

(3)

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

Annotations

Commencement

I1: Sch. 1 para. 5 in force at 18.7.2025, see art. 1(2)