EA Bulletin: 398 Scotland

On Monday 14 September, we published our report on the 2026 Scottish Parliament election. The report looks at how the elections were run, how voters found taking part, how candidates and campaigners experienced the polls, and what lessons can be learned for the future.

Overall, we found that electoral administrators again delivered well-run elections and public confidence remained high. Most voters were satisfied with voting and registration, and most candidates had confidence that the elections were administered well. However, the report also highlights that more needs to be done to support administrators as the system remains under pressure, with challenges around capacity and suppliers. We are also calling for action to address the risk of misinformation and to keep candidates safe from abuse and intimidation.

Other findings include:

• turnout was 53.4%, down from 63.5% at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, although awareness of the election remained high
• disabled voters generally had positive experiences, but some continued to face barriers. Awareness of accessibility support in polling stations remained low. Administrators provided strong levels of accessibility equipment and support, but more needs to be done by the Scottish government and the electoral community to ensure voters know what support is available and how to request it
• candidates were broadly satisfied with the process for standing for election, but many continued to experience, abuse or intimidation, particularly online
• voters remain concerned about the reliability of election information. More than half of people surveyed said they had seen misinformation, and around one in ten said they had seen deepfake material
• electoral administrators delivered the election effectively, but staffing, absent voting processes, count pressures and future legislative change continue to create resilience risks

Our recommendations
The improvements we identified to support participation and trust in elections include:

• improving awareness of the accessibility support available at polling stations, including clearer information online, offline, on poll cards and in polling stations
• increasing flexibility available for the process of amending candidate spending return forms so they can be easier to understand and complete
• calling for political parties to support the development of a campaigning code of conduct and incorporate it into their membership and disciplinary policies
• calling for social media companies to do more to tackle online abuse of candidates and for the UK government to create a clearer new overarching duty on social media companies to cover a wider range of risks to election and protect legitimate political debate
• following work ahead of these elections aimed at protecting the information environment, we are encouraging all the UK’s governments to work together to develop shared technical and operational capabilities to protect the election information environment from mis- and disinformation, including deepfakes.
• updating electoral law to reflect new threats to election information
• requiring social media platforms and online information services to develop fit-for-purpose policies to protect election information and limit the spread of mis- and disinformation
• consolidating electoral law and sufficient funding to support administrators so they can cope with future changes
• Urging governments across the UK to collaborate on automatic voter registration to minimise voter confusion and complexity for administrators

We are ready to work with the Scottish Government, the UK Government, the EMB, electoral administrators, political parties, social media platforms and civil society organisations in delivering these recommendations. We are committed to the importance of implementing any changes in enough time for the electoral community to prepare in advance of future elections.

You can read our findings and recommendations in full in our report.

We also published separate reports on the Senedd and English local elections. As in Scotland, we found that the polls were well-run with voters and campaigners reporting high levels of confidence in the electoral processes. The Senedd elections also saw their highest even turnout. However, as in Scotland, further action is needed on addressing misinformation and to keep candidates safe from abuse and intimidation.

We have updated our postal and proxy application forms ahead of the new rules coming into force and online absent vote applications being introduced for Scottish Parliament and council elections from 3 November 2026.

The changes are:

• The removal of Electoral Commission (EC) branding and references to the EC. This is intended to minimise confusion and reduce the risk of completed forms being mistakenly returned to EC offices close to application deadlines
• Inclusion of ‘middle name’ field to match the registration forms
• A new GB wide postal vote application form. There will still be a separate postal vote application form for overseas voters
• Proxy application forms will still be split by nation and will still include the text ‘This form applies only in Scotland’
• Supporter details and declarations have been condensed, where possible

You can view some sample copies on our website to help you prepare. These samples are final copies, but do not include all of the proxy application forms.

All of the updated forms will be available to voters from 3 November 2026. 

We would be grateful if you could remind your printers to periodically delete and redownload all party emblems - a link to the latest emblem zip file can be found on our website. The Registration team at the Commission conducts maintenance on party emblems, for example replacing an emblem for a higher quality image version, and steps are taken in these cases to keep the registered emblem ID. We are aware of cases where the emblem ID not changing means that this is not picked up in regular emblem zip updates, and printers may be using out of date version of emblems as a result.

We are currently recruiting to the following position in our Electoral Performance team:

• Senior Adviser, Electoral Performance (Closing date 28 September 23:59; Location: Cardiff, Belfast, Edinburgh (Hybrid – min. 2 days in office), or Remote UK)

The Electoral Performance team is responsible for developing and maintaining the Commission's performance standards for Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers. You will be joining us at an exciting time as we develop the future approach to monitoring electoral performance. You will have the opportunity to shape new frameworks, tools and ways of working that will influence how electoral performance is measured and supported across the UK for years to come.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Amy Symons, Electoral Performance Manager.

For further information or to apply, please visit the Commission’s job portal.