Guidance for Returning Officers administering Local Government Elections in England

Preparing a record of those postal votes that were rejected when handed in

You must keep a list of any elector whose postal vote was rejected at the point it was handed in (or left behind) at a polling station or at a council office. To compile the list you must open separately each covering envelope and each ballot paper envelope.1  

If an elector’s rejected postal vote does not include a postal voting statement, you are not required to record the rejection on the list of postal votes rejected when handed in.2

To ensure that the list of postal votes rejected when handed into you is as up to date as possible, you should seal any packets of rejected postal votes collected or delivered to you by hand at the polling station or at a council office and update the relevant list as soon as practicable. 

This list can also be checked to manage queries from postal voters asking you to confirm if their postal vote has been received where their postal vote is not shown on the marked register of postal votes. 

Once the list of postal votes that were rejected when handed into to the Returning Officer is updated, the packets should be resealed and stored securely.

The list must contain, for each such rejected postal vote:3

  • the elector’s name and address (and the name and address of the proxy if the elector has a proxy)
  • the elector’s number on the register of electors (and that of the proxy if the elector has a proxy)
  • the specified reason(s) for the rejection of the postal vote handed in
  • an indication as to whether the postal voting documents included a postal ballot paper the number of which matched the postal ballot paper number marked on the postal voting statement
  • any other information relating to the rejection that the returning officer considers appropriate, but not the postal ballot paper number

The specified reasons for rejection of a postal vote that was handed in are that: 

  • the postal vote return form was not fully completed (incomplete)4 or postal vote was left behind5  
  • the number of postal votes handed in exceed or was expected to exceed the permitted number6
  • the postal vote was handed in by a political campaigner not permitted to handle the postal votes7  

The Electoral Registration Officer is required to notify an elector if their postal vote is recorded on the list of postal votes rejected at the point it was handed in (or left behind) at a polling station or at a council office. 

Our ERO guidance on postal vote rejection notices contains more information on this process. 
 

Diweddarwyd ddiwethaf: 1 Mai 2024