Skills and knowledge - Combined Authority and Combined County Authority Returning Officer
In addition to your legal duties, you are also responsible for providing leadership and co-ordinating the work of local Returning Officers to ensure that the election is well-run and that voters and those standing for election receive a consistently high-quality service across the whole of the combined authority area.
You should ensure that you have a clear understanding of your statutory functions and a working knowledge of the relevant legislation.
In order to understand your role as CARO/CCARO and to deliver effective administration of the polls across your combined authority you will need to understand the management structure in place for administering the polls across your combined authority area, alongside any particular challenges within the area. You should decide on your approach to ensure that the polls are administered consistently by, and in consultation with, the relevant local ROs.
Some of the things that you should consider at an early stage are:
whether you will direct that you will print the ballot papers to be used at the election
whether you will direct that the verification of ballot papers and/or the counting of the votes is to take place at a central location
in the instance of a decentralised verification and/or count, what protocols will be put in place for the two-way communication of verification and count totals between you and local ROs, including the communication of local count totals and second count
how you will ensure consistency and monitor the delivery of the election across the whole of the combined authority area
what your plans are for communicating any directions and guidance are to local ROs
that any guidance or directions that you issue as CARO/CCARO are compatible with our own guidance and the RO performance standards framework - if you are in any doubt you should contact us at the earliest opportunity to discuss your concerns.
the appointment of deputies, including the number required and what duties your appointed deputies will discharge
the process for correcting any procedural errors made, both by you as CARO/CCARO and by local ROs
that arrangements have been made to ensure that you have appropriate insurance cover in place.