Guidance for Returning Officers administering Local Government Elections in England

New proxy vote applications must be received by the deadline for the relevant upcoming poll, however the verification of identity may be determined up to and including polling day.

There is no legislative deadline provided for the determination of proxy vote applications. You should liaise with the ERO (where you are not also the ERO) to:

• coordinate the determination of applications and subsequent updates to polling station registers and absent voting lists
• monitor the volume of applications that are not matched with DWP on the ERO Portal in the run up to the proxy vote application deadline
• agree messaging for your communications activity with electors who apply for a proxy vote close to the deadline for a poll

For those electors whose proxy vote applications are determined during the week leading up to polling day you will need to identify how you will:   

• manage the communications with the elector and the proxy appointed 
• alter and print the list of proxies for the appropriate polling station as soon as possible after the proxy has been appointed and, if the proxy application is determined on polling day, how you will communicate this to the appropriate polling station staff by any means available to you.
• ensure that there is time for a proxy voter to be informed that they have been appointed and go to the polling station and vote by 10pm on polling day

Managing communications with electors who apply for a proxy vote close to a deadline

You should ensure that you and the ERO (if you are not also the ERO) agree the messaging in any communications with electors who apply close to the deadline. Given that the processing of proxy vote applications may take longer because of the requirement to verify their identity, specific messaging may be needed for electors who apply close to the deadline.   

Managing proxy vote applications that will not be determined by polling day

You should ensure that you contact any applicants whose proxy vote application is not going to be determined before polling day. 

You can use email or telephone to contact applicants if you hold those contact details. You should ensure that they know:

• that their proxy vote application will not be processed in time for polling day 
• what their options for voting on polling day are – i.e. polling station only or emergency proxy
• where appropriate, that their application will be processed for future polls

Managing the communicating of any additions to the list of proxies where applications are determined up to and including polling day   

You should agree with the ERO (if you are not also the ERO) a method for communicating any additions to the list of proxies that result from the determination of proxy vote applications up to and including polling day. 

If the proxy lists have already been printed, the ERO (if you are not also the ERO) should, where possible, provide a supplementary list of proxies which can be issued to the relevant polling station and added to the list originally supplied.

If a proxy application is determined by the ERO on polling day, you should also inform the appropriate polling station staff as soon as possible after the proxy has been appointed, by any means available to you.

While a person appointed as a proxy will be required to produce photographic ID   at the polling station to prove their identity before they can be issued with a ballot paper, they are not required to prove that they have been appointed as a proxy. However,   wherever possible, the ERO should provide the proxy of any voter whose application has been accepted with a letter authorising them to act as a proxy, which should include details of the person on whose behalf they are voting. The ERO should advise the proxy to take that authorisation with them  and to hand it to polling station staff. If such a letter is provided at the polling station, polling station staff should mark it to show that the proxy has been issued with a ballot paper and the marked letter should then be retained with the list of proxies.

The agreed method for communicating additions to the list of proxies on polling day should be covered at the training session for polling station staff. Further information on training polling station staff can be found in our guidance on staffing and training.

You could ask polling station inspectors to liaise with the electoral registration office regarding proxy applications granted on polling day and should advise them of the procedures to be followed.