Guidance for Returning Officers administering a Scottish Parliament election

You are responsible for sending electors and their proxies, an official poll card for Scottish Parliament elections.1

Poll cards must follow the prescribed form.2 You must include on each poll card all of the elements specified in the relevant election rules and shown on the front and the back of the poll cards in the appendix.3

You should liaise with your Royal Mail contact (or other commercial delivery partner) at an early stage to ensure that you have appropriate licences in place and that the poll card meets specific delivery requirements.

The Convener of the EMB may direct or recommend when poll cards are dispatched.

Poll cards should be sent to electors and their proxies as soon as practicable after the publication of the notice of election. If you are outsourcing the production of poll cards, you will need to securely transfer your poll card data to your printers and you should ensure that your software is able to produce a data file that your printers can use to produce the materials to the specification required.

You should, at an early stage in discussions with your printers, have addressed in what format you will supply the data and in what format they will send you any proofs, and this should be included in your specification and contract.

For more information see our guidance on developing contracts for outsourced work and quality assurance checks.

Subsequent issues of poll cards

EROs must publish two interim election notices of alteration before publishing the final election notice of alteration 5 working days before the poll.4 These notices support the prompt dispatch of poll cards to those electors who have applied to register close to the registration deadline. The first interim notice of alteration must be published 23 working days before the poll.5

You should liaise with the ERO to ensure that the timing of the publication of the second interim notice can support the production of your second wave of poll cards. The second interim notice must be published between 22 and 6 working days before the poll (inclusive).6

The Convener of the EMB may direct or recommend when the second interim notice should be published.

An update of the registration data resulting from each of the notices of alteration should be sent to your printers as soon as practicable to enable the production of poll cards for new electors.

For more information on interim notices see our ERO guidance.

For more information see our guidance on poll card delivery.