Combined Authority and Combined County Authority Returning Officer guidance for Combined Authority Mayoral elections

Electoral Registration Officer

The Electoral Registration Officer is responsible for maintaining the register of electors and lists of absent voters for their local authority area1 and is normally a senior officer in the local authority and may also be the Returning Officer.

Local Returning Officer

Local ROs are responsible for running the combined (county) authority mayoral election at a local level. Full detail of the responsibilities of an RO at local elections are available in our guidance for Returning Officers at local elections.

• Combined Authority Mayoral elections

Each constituent council must appoint an officer of the council to be the local RO. Where both a district council and a county council are constituent councils for the same area of the combined authority, the requirement to appoint an officer of the council to be the local RO only applies to the district council.2

• Combined County Authority Mayoral elections

Where there is a unitary county council or a unitary district council within the area of the combined county authority, that council must appoint an officer to be the local RO.3

Where there is both a district council and a county council within the area of the combined county authority, it is the district council which must appoint an officer of the council to be the local RO.4

Local RO roles and responsibilities

Where the combined authority or combined county authority mayoral election is not combined with any other poll, the local RO will be personally responsible for the conduct of the poll, including the provision of polling stations,5 the issue and receipt of postal ballot papers6 and the verification and counting of the votes in their area.7

Where the combined authority mayoral election is combined with the poll at another election, the relevant RO will take on the combined functions. For example, where the combined authority election is combined with a district election, it will be the RO for the district election who will take on the combined functions. In practice, this will be the same person as the local RO.

There are combined functions which will be the personal responsibility of the relevant RO in their area. These functions are:

• the provision of polling stations8  
• appointing and training of Presiding Officers and Poll Clerks9  
• conducting the poll
• the notice of situation of polling stations10  
• providing the equipment of polling stations11  
• the notification of the secrecy requirements at polling stations12  
• signing certificates of employment for polling station staff allowing them to vote at the polling station they are working at, as opposed to the one allocated to them13  
• authorising the order to remove persons from polling stations14  
• verifying all ballot papers15  
• where it has been decided to combine the issue of postal votes:
  • maintaining the corresponding number list
  • issuing postal votes, including creating a copy of the postal voters list and proxy postal voters list and marking it on issue
  • opening postal votes, including marking the returned postal vote statements on the lists and verifying the personal identifiers on the returned postal voting statements16  

Local ROs must also consider the accessibility for voters at polling stations. Our guidance on assistance with voting for disabled people provides further information.