Rule 36 Issue of official poll cardsI1

England and Wales

(1)

The returning officer must, as soon as practicable after publishing notice of the election, send or deliver—

(a)

an official poll card to electors not voting by post,

(b)

an official postal poll card to electors voting by post and not by proxy,

(c)

an official proxy poll card to a person voting as proxy for an elector and not by post, and

(d)

an official proxy postal poll card to a person voting as proxy for an elector by post.

(2)

An official poll card or an official postal poll card must be sent or delivered to the elector’s qualifying address.

(3)

An official proxy poll card or an official proxy postal poll card must be sent or delivered to the proxy’s address, as shown in the list of proxies.

(4)

Subject to paragraph (5), each poll card must be in the appropriate form set out in Welsh and English in Schedule 10 or a form to the like effect and must set out—

(a)

the name of the Senedd constituency to which the members are to be elected,

(b)

the elector’s name, qualifying address and number on the register,

(c)

the date and hours of the poll and the situation of the elector’s polling station, and

(d)

such other information, not relating to any candidate or registered political party, as the returning officer considers appropriate.

(5)

Paragraph (4)(c) does not apply to poll cards issued to postal voters and postal proxy voters (forms 17 and 18 in Schedule 10).

(6)

Different information may be provided under paragraph (4)(d) to different electors or descriptions of elector.

(7)

In the case of an elector with an anonymous entry, the poll card must—

(a)

contain such information as is specified in the appropriate form in Schedule 10 instead of the information set out in paragraph (4)(b), and

(b)

be sent or delivered in an envelope or other form of covering so as not to disclose that the elector has an anonymous entry.

(8)

In this rule “elector”—

(a)

means a person who is registered in the register for the Senedd constituency on the last day for the publication of notice of the election, and

(b)

includes a person then shown in the register or, in the case of a person with an anonymous entry in the register, in the record of anonymous entries, as below voting age, but only if it appears from the register, or the record of anonymous entries, that the person will be of voting age on the day fixed for the poll.

Annotations

Commencement

I1: Sch. 5 rule 36 in force at 18.7.2025, see art. 1(2)