Code of Conduct for Campaigners at Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru, Scottish council and Welsh local elections
Electoral registration and absent vote applications
Campaigners should be free to encourage voters to register to vote and apply to vote by post or appoint a proxy to vote on their behalf, if that is the most convenient way for them to vote.
Campaigners can help to inform voters about how to participate in elections. They can encourage voters to use the online electoral registration service, or they can provide voters with paper application forms. Electoral Registration Officers should support you by providing you with a reasonable number of registration and absent vote application forms on request.
Registration and absent vote forms should conform to electoral law
Campaigners should ensure that any electoral registration forms and postal or proxy voting application forms conform fully to the requirements of electoral law, including all the necessary questions and the options open to electors.
You can download electoral registration forms from www.gov.uk/government/publications/register-to-vote-if-youre-living-in-the-uk and absent vote application forms from www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/apply-vote-post.
ERO's address should be preferred return address
Campaigners should ensure that the local Electoral Registration Officer’s address is clearly provided as the preferred return address.
To ensure voters can make their own choice about how to return registration, or absent vote application forms, you should always clearly provide the relevant Electoral Registration Officer’s address as the preferred return address, even if an alternative address is also given. This will also minimise the risk of suspicion that completed applications could be altered or inadvertently lost or destroyed.
Campaigners should send completed forms unaltered to ERO
Campaigners should send on unaltered any completed registration or absent vote application given to them to the relevant Electoral Registration Officer’s address within two working days of receipt.
To minimise the risk of absent vote applications being refused because completed forms arrive with the Electoral Registration Officer after the statutory deadline before a poll, you must ensure that there is no unnecessary delay in forwarding on application forms which you receive directly.
Implications of applying to vote by post or proxy
Campaigners should always explain to electors the implications of applying to vote by post or appointing a proxy.
It is important that electors understand that they will not be able to vote in person on polling day if they or their proxy apply for and are granted a postal vote, and will not be able to vote in person if their appointed proxy has already voted on their behalf. To avoid duplication and unnecessary administrative pressures for Electoral Registration Officers, campaigners should try to ensure that electors who are included in current postal or proxy voter lists, or have already applied for a postal or proxy vote for a particular poll, do not submit an additional application.
Postal vote applications
Campaigners should never encourage electors to have their postal ballot pack redirected to anywhere other than the address where they are registered to vote.
Electors should take care to protect their ballot paper and postal ballot pack, and they will be best able to do so at their home address unless there are compelling reasons why receiving the postal ballot pack at the address where they are registered to vote would be impractical. Electors must state on the application form the reason why they need their postal ballot pack sent to another address.
Proxy vote applications
Electors should be encouraged to explore other options for people to act as a proxy – including relatives or neighbours, for example – before a campaigner agrees to be appointed as a proxy.
To minimise the risk of suspicion that campaigners may be seeking to place undue pressure on electors, electors should not be encouraged to appoint a campaigner as their proxy.