Paragraph 20 Rule 58 (the count: steps)I1

Rule 58 is to be read as if for that rule there were substituted—

“The count: steps

58.

(1)

Where the poll at a Senedd election is taken together with the poll at a police and crime commissioner election, the returning officer who discharges the functions specified in paragraph 2 of Schedule 4 must take the following steps.

(2)

The returning officer must, in the presence of the counting agents appointed for the purposes of the Senedd and police and crime commissioner elections, open each ballot box, take out the ballot papers, count them and separately record the number of ballot papers for each election.

(3)

The returning officer must not count any tendered ballot papers.

(4)

The returning officer must, in the presence of the election agents appointed for the purposes of the Senedd and police and crime commissioner elections verify each ballot paper account by comparing it with the number of ballot papers recorded, the unused and spoilt ballot papers in the returning officer’s possession and the tendered votes list, opening and resealing the packets containing the unused and spoilt ballot papers and tendered votes list.

(5)

The returning officer must prepare a statement as to the result of the verifications and give a copy of the statement to any election agent who requests it.

(6)

The returning officer must also—

(a)

count the postal ballot papers that have been properly returned (see paragraph (8)) and separately record the number counted at each election,

(b)

separate the ballot papers relating to each election,

(c)

make up into packets the ballot papers for each election other than the Senedd election and seal them up in separate containers endorsing on each a description of the area to which the ballot papers relate,

(d)

deliver, or cause to be delivered, to the returning officer at the election to which the ballot papers relate—

(i)

the containers mentioned in sub-paragraph (c), together with a list of them and of the contents of each, and

(ii)

the ballot paper accounts together with a copy of the statement as to the result of their verification in respect of that election, and

(e)

at the same time deliver, or cause to be delivered, to that officer packets that so relate containing—

(i)

the unused and spoilt ballot papers,

(ii)

the tendered ballot papers, and

(iii)

the completed corresponding number lists and the certificates as to employment on duty on the day of the poll.

(7)

Where separate ballot boxes have been used for Senedd and police and crime commissioner elections, no vote will be rendered invalid solely by the ballot paper being placed in the wrong ballot box.

(8)

A postal ballot paper is to be treated as properly returned if the ballot paper and the accompanying postal voting statement properly completed are—

(a)

handed in at a polling station in the appropriate area before the close of the poll,

(b)

given by hand to the returning officer before the close of the poll, or

(c)

received by the returning officer by post before the close of the poll.

(9)

A postal voting statement is properly completed if—

(a)

it is signed by the elector or the proxy, unless the registration officer has dispensed with the requirement for a signature,

(b)

it states the date of birth of the elector or the proxy, and

(c)

in a case where the returning officer is required to takes steps to verify the date of birth and signature of an elector or proxy in accordance with paragraph 23 of Schedule 2, the returning officer has taken those steps and verified the date of birth and, except in a case where the requirement for a signature has been dispensed with, the signature.

(10)

Where, at the close of the poll, a person is in the polling station, or in a queue outside the polling station, for the purpose of handing in a postal ballot paper and postal voting statement—

(a)

the person must be permitted to hand the ballot paper and statement in at the polling station, and

(b)

where handed in, they are to be treated as having been handed in before the close of the poll for the purposes of this rule.

(11)

The returning officer must not count the votes given on any ballot paper in relation to a Senedd election until—

(a)

in the case of postal ballot papers, they have been mixed with the ballot papers from at least one ballot box, and

(b)

in the case of ballot papers from a ballot box, they have been mixed with the ballot papers from at least one other ballot box.

(12)

While counting and recording the number of ballot papers and counting the votes, the returning officer must—

(a)

keep the ballot papers with their faces upwards, and

(b)

take such other precautions as are appropriate for preventing any person from seeing the numbers or other unique identifying marks printed on the back of the papers.

(13)

In this rule, “appropriate area” means the area common to the Senedd constituency and voting area in which the polls for the Senedd election and the police and crime commissioner election are being taken together and in respect of which polls the voter has been issued with a ballot paper.”