The following guidance has been produced to support Local Returning Officers (LROs) in planning for and delivering Police and Crime Commissioner elections. It has been written to cover both ordinary and by-elections. 

It has been developed in close consultation with colleagues across the electoral community including the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE), the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA), the UK Electoral Coordination and Advisory Board (ECAB) and the Elections, Registration and Referendums Working Group (ERRWG).

It reflects the LRO’s legal obligations and what we, and colleagues across the electoral community, believe that LROs should expect of their staff in preparing for and delivering Police and Crime Commissioner elections.

Performance Standards

In addition to our role in providing advice and guidance, we set standards and monitor the performance of ROs through our performance standards framework.

Our guidance to support the delivery of your functions includes what we expect ROs will need to have in place and what we would expect to see for the key outcomes of the standards to be delivered. You should be mindful of this framework in the planning and delivery of the election.

For more information on the framework see our performance standards guidance for ROs.  

How to use this guidance

This guidance is directed towards the LRO and the duties they carry out. As these duties may, in practice, be carried out by deputies and/or appointed staff, we use the term ‘you’ throughout this guidance to mean the LRO and whoever is carrying out the LRO’s functions on their behalf.

Throughout this guidance we use ‘must’ to refer to a specific legal requirement and ‘may / should’ for recommended practice. 

This guidance is for Police and Crime Commissioner elections.  

In this guidance the term ‘voting area’ is the local authority area. The term ‘police area’ is the area covered by the police force.

Guidance to support ROs with other types of election is also available.

You can also access Guidance for Candidates and Agents.

To help you use this guidance we have produced a Q&A document that should answer any initial queries you may have. 

This section of the guidance covers the appointment of the Local Returning Officer (LRO) as well as the roles and responsibilities for those appointed to this post.

It also contains guidance on the consequences of the breach of official duty and the legislative powers available to the LRO to use in certain circumstances.  

Additionally, this section also contains guidance on the skills and knowledge that is expected to be required of an LRO. 

Finally, it provides a detailed list of the relevant legislation that the guidance has been written to reflect, and which an LRO should be familiar with.

Every county, district, unitary and metropolitan council is required to appoint an officer of the council to be the RO for the election of councillors to their local authority.1

By virtue of being the local government RO, you will also be the Local Returning Officer (LRO) for the PCC election. 

At a PCC election, an LRO is appointed for each voting area within the police area. The voting area is defined as the local authority area.

You should ensure that you have appropriate insurance cover. You should be prepared to demonstrate robust planning and decision-making processes in the event of any challenge to the elections and a claim against this cover.

The team at your council dealing with insurance may be able to help determine what existing cover is in place and available, and to provide advice as to whether it should be extended.    

DLUHC will provide information relating to their policy around indemnifying PAROS and LROs in the run up to a scheduled PCC election.

As LRO, you play a central role in the democratic process. Your role is to ensure that the election is administered effectively and that, as a result, the experience of voters is a positive one. To achieve this, you will need to have in place an effective mechanism for liaising with adjoining LROs and with the PARO. 

You should set out at an early stage what each of you wants to achieve and what success would look like for you. 

As LRO, in your voting area you are personally responsible for the conduct of the election, including:

• provision and equipment of polling stations1
• printing of the ballot papers (unless the PARO has given notice that they will take on responsibility for this)
• appointment of polling station staff2
• conduct of the poll3
• management of the postal vote process
• the verification and counting of the votes for your voting area (unless the PARO has given notice that they will take on responsibility for this)4
• transmission of the local total for the voting area to the PARO5

Your duties as LRO are separate from your duties as a local government officer. As LRO you are not responsible to the local authority but are directly accountable to the courts as an independent statutory office holder.

While you can appoint one or more persons to discharge any or all of your functions as LRO, you cannot delegate your personal responsibility for delivering the election. You can find further information in our guidance on the appointment of deputies.  

Police Area Returning Officer (PARO)  

The PARO is responsible for the overall conduct of the PCC election, and for liaising with and co-ordinating the work of LROs in the police area. 

The PARO has the power to give general or specific directions to LROs relating to the discharge of their functions at the PCC election, including directions requiring LROs to take specified preparatory steps or to provide any information that they have or are entitled to have.

Our guidance for PAROs outlines the role and responsibility of the PARO. 

As the LRO you are subject to breach of official duty provisions. This means that if you or your appointed deputies are, without reasonable cause, guilty of any act or omission in breach of official duty you (and/or they) are liable on summary conviction to an unlimited fine.1

You have the power to take such steps as you think appropriate to remedy acts or omissions that arise in connection with any function of the elections for which you are responsible and that are not in accordance with the rules.2

This power allows you to correct procedural errors that are made by you, as LRO, an ERO, a Presiding Officer (or any deputies of any of these) or a person providing goods or services to you/them. 

A procedural error refers to an error someone has made during the process of planning or delivering the election, which may affect the election process or result. For example, incorrect information being produced on poll cards or ballot papers, or postal or polling station ballot papers being issued in error or not issued when they should have been. The above examples are not exhaustive and you should contact your local Commission team for support and advice if you have think you may have made a mistake that could be corrected using this power.

Where you remedy an act or omission in full by using your power to correct a procedural error, you will not be guilty of an offence of breach of official duty.3 You should remember that the power to correct procedural errors does not enable you as LRO to recount the votes once the result has been declared.4  

You should have a working knowledge of the legislation governing the conduct of the election. This means that, in addition to having a clear understanding of your statutory functions, you should have an overview of what the legislation contains and an understanding of how it affects the administration of the election, so that you can review, question where necessary, and quality-assure the whole process.

There are management responsibilities attached to your role. For example:

• commanding the required staff and resources to deliver a well-run election 
• draw in the necessary support, skills and expertise from across your own local authority
• overseeing the planning, project management and risk management of the election and incorporate any lessons learnt from previous polls
• identifying and oversee any actions necessary to mitigate any issues arising
• ensuring that staff are appropriately trained to deliver the roles required of them
• supporting the staff administering the election and provide appropriate oversight of their work
• providing direction to staff, monitoring progress and receiving regular feedback on activities
• if you are not also the PARO, maintain an effective working relationship with the PARO
• if you are not also the ERO, maintain an effective working relationship with them  
• maintaining an effective working relationship with your police Single Point of Contact (SPOC)
• ensuring that election accounts are completed in a timely manner

This guidance has been produced based on, and should be read in accordance with, the requirements set out in the following legislation (as amended):

• Representation of the People Acts 1983, 1985 and 2000
• Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
• Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001
• Electoral Administration Act 2006
• Political Parties and Elections Act 2009
• Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011
• The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections Order 2012
• The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Functions of Returning Officers) Regulations 2012
• The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Designation of Local Authorities) Order 2015 
• The Police and Crime Commissioner (Disqualification) (Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 2012
• The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Returning Officers’ Accounts) (Amendment) Regulations 2016 
• The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Local Returning Officers’ and Police Area Returning Officers’ Charges) Order 2016 
• Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013
• The Transfer of Functions (Police and Crime Commissioner Elections) Order 2015
• The Elections Act 2022
• Voter Identification Regulations 2022
• The Assistance with Voting for Persons with Disabilities (Amendments) Regulations 2022
• Police and Crime Commissioner Elections and Welsh Forms (Amendment) Order 2022 
• Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Designations etc.) (Amendment) Order 2022
• Representation of the People (Postal and Proxy Voting etc.) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 

The list above includes only the legislation that makes provision in areas that this guidance relates to and the legislation that currently stands. We expect further legislation to provide for amended conduct regulations, designation of PAROs and fees and charges.

Data protection legislation applies to the processing of all personal data. LROs are personally responsible for ensuring that they comply with the requirements of data protection legislation. We have published guidance to support you in meeting with your obligations under data protection legislation as it relates to your electoral administration responsibilities.

You are required to have regard to the public sector equality duty contained in Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 when carrying out your duties.

As LRO you are also required to have regard to the Electoral Commission's guidance on accessibility.

LROs in Wales must also have regard to the Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, which require services in Wales to be delivered equally in English and in Welsh. .

A Police and Crime Commissioner election is a significant event which brings with it its own particular challenges. Having robust plans in place are crucial to ensure you are able to deliver a well-run election.

This section of the guidance covers the planning you will need to do to support the delivery of the election, including what your project plan should contain and how you should go about implementing it.

It also contains guidance on staffing and staff training required, the specific venues needed for key processes, and support on the use of suppliers and contractors.

Additionally, this section also contains guidance on identifying, monitoring and mitigating risk, and developing plans with the police to ensure the integrity of the election is maintained.

Finally, it provides guidance on how you will need to plan for your public awareness activity to promote both voter registration and provide information to support electors voting, and engagement with candidates and agents.

The Police and Crime Commissioner election (PCC) is a significant event, which brings with it its own particular challenges. Your work to deliver a well-run poll will come under considerable scrutiny – from voters, candidates and political parties, and the media including through social media. This section seeks to highlight some of the particular aspects of context relevant to a PCC election which you should ensure underpin all aspects of your planning.

The Police and Crime Commissioner is elected using the first past the post voting system.

In some police areas the candidate elected to the role of PCC also holds the fire and rescue authority function.

Nature of a PCC election

The evolving political landscape could mean that even in places where there has traditionally been a large majority this may no longer be the case. The focus and circumstances could be different from anything experienced in your area before.

There may be a significant number of new or less experienced political parties, candidates and agents who are unfamiliar with the practices and processes of an election and who will need your assistance to be able to participate effectively.

Particularly given the possibility of close and hard-fought contests, you should be prepared for the integrity of the election to be scrutinised. Allegations and cases of electoral fraud will not only have a negative impact on the confidence of electors and campaigners, but they may also have a significant impact on your capacity to manage the election process effectively. It is therefore crucial that you put in place detailed and robust plans for monitoring and maintaining the integrity of the election in your area. You should work closely with the local police, ensuring you have in place good lines of communication for referring any allegations. For more information see our guidance on Maintaining the integrity of the election.

Scale and turnout

Many aspects of planning for the election will need to reflect assumptions as to the likely turnout for the poll. Establishing such assumptions at an early stage in the planning is of key importance as the scope for adjusting plans is limited at a later stage in the process.

The levels of engagement in a particular poll are often difficult to predict in advance of the election period. You should plan for the possibility of a high turnout and, as a minimum, you should assume that the turnout will be not less than the turnout of the last equivalent poll.

As the polls become closer, the context will continue to evolve as the campaigns pick up pace. You will need to be prepared to react to events which could have an impact on the effective delivery of the poll. This will include having robust contingency plans in place that you can turn to where required.

It is vital that appropriate provision of polling stations is made, with the numbers of staff within them sufficient to deal with the number of electors allocated to them. Although the legislation allows any voters in a queue at their polling station at 10pm to vote1 , the need to ensure that voters do not face undue delays in voting and can receive a high-quality service remains.

There is likely to be a media focus on the count and declaration of results and it will be important to manage expectations, not only of the media but of all with an interest in the results, by consulting on your proposed approach and subsequently communicating clearly what you expect to deliver and by when. 

Before you start planning for the election, you should ensure that you have carried out a review of the last equivalent polls.

You should have carried out a thorough evaluation of all processes outlined in your project plan for the previous election, sought feedback from appropriate stakeholders, and produced a lessons learnt document to inform the project plan and risk register for future electoral events. You can find further information in our guidance on Reviewing the election.

The Commission has provided, as part of the template project plan, some sample objectives and suggested tools that will allow you to measure the extent to which the conduct of the election has been successful. The Commission has also provided an evaluation plan as part of the template project plan to assist you with the review process.

Project plan

You should prepare a project plan for the management of the election, treat it as a living document, keep it under regular review, and use it to monitor progress throughout.

You should record all steps taken to prepare your plan in order to be able to provide an audit trail demonstrating your decision making process. You should be able to explain your decisions, and you should be prepared to do so in response to enquiries.

Your planning should ensure that:  

• voters are able to vote easily and know that their vote will be counted in the way they intended
• it is easy for people who want to stand for election to find out how to get involved, what the rules are, and what they have to do to comply with these rules, and
• they can have confidence in the management of the process and the result  

We have produced a template project plan that you may wish to use and adapt to fit your local circumstances. The template includes a number of example deliverables and tasks and you should also add in any others you identify as necessary, including ones specific to your local circumstances.

Liaison between the Police Area Returning Officer (PARO) and Local Returning Officers (LROs) in the police area should start at an early stage to support the delivery of a consistently high-quality experience for voters and those standing for election across the whole of the police area.

Before starting your detailed planning, you should set out what you want to achieve and what success would look like. Your project plan should include clearly defined objectives and success measures to help you measure the extent to which the conduct of the election has been successful as part of the template project plan.

If you are not also the PARO, you should liaise with them at an early stage to ascertain their objectives and success measures so that you can reflect these in your planning.

You should ensure that your planning reflects the particular context and nature of the election such as any changes to either legislation or the political landscape since the last equivalent election.

Your project plan should also identify the resources required, including any new burdens, for example any new costs associated with making reasonable adjustments for voters at polling stations. Once the fees and charges for the PCC election have been set, you should reconcile projected costs for activities against the available budget. You should take all necessary steps to ensure that the local authority makes the necessary resources available to you to enable you to discharge your functions.

You also need to plan for the implementation of accessibility requirements in the polling stations. Your plans should include:

• where the accessibility needs to be considered
• which barriers prevents equal access to voting for all persons?
• when do you need to action any identified requirements; for example if you need to buy additional equipment - will it be received in time?
• written notes of all considerations and actions taken in respect of any requested reasonable adjustments

You should also establish working relationships with experts at the local authority who should be able to offer support and advice on any reasonable adjustments needed.

A reasonable adjustment is a change that is made to reduce or remove a disadvantage in relation to someone's disability compared to non-disabled people. For example the removal of physical barriers or providing extra support for disabled persons.

You will need to review your plans to ensure they outline your processes and the data protection safeguards that you have in place, as they will provide a sound basis for you to meet your data protection obligations. Your council’s data protection officer will be able to help you meet your requirements and ascertain best practice. In particular, you will need to ensure that you are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office ICO as a data controller.

Further guidance on data protection legislation, including registering as a data controller, is contained in our data protection guidance. Your plans should also cover the potential for by-elections to be held in your area to fill casual vacancies.

Risk register

You should also prepare a risk register which should also be a living document and kept under regular review. You should use your risk register to monitor the known risks and document any changes in risk, as well as ensuring that mitigating actions are identified and are being taken forward as appropriate. Your risk register should identify:

• any difficulties and problems that may occur, and the actions taken to mitigate them
• the seriousness of any risk by indicating both the likelihood of the risk occurring and the impact of the risk if it did occur 

We have developed a template risk register that you may wish to use. The template provides some example risks and suggestions for mitigating those risks. In addition to the risks identified in the template you should also identify any other risks, including ones specific to your local circumstances, and how you would mitigate those.

We have published a non-date specific timetable containing the statutory deadlines as set out in the election rules which can be used to assist you in your planning.

A date-specific timetable will be available on our website ahead of scheduled polls.

You should ensure that you have contingency arrangements in place to enable you to respond and deliver a well-run election should a by-election arise. Once an election has been called you will need to review your plans and develop arrangements for the specific context and timetable of the poll.

Although they are ERO functions, further information on the Voter Authority Certificate and Anonymous Elector's Document application deadline can be found in our ERO guidance for England and Wales. 

You can also find further information on the postal vote deadlines for England and Wales, and proxy vote deadlines for England and Wales in our ERO guidance.

Establishing early communication with the Police Areas Returning Officer (PARO) will assist you to plan effectively.

Your project plan should include details on how you will deliver the key processes, including, postal vote opening, voting in polling stations, and verification and count. It should also include how you will meet your duty to ensure that the polling station is accessible to all voters. Our guidance on understanding the barriers to voting provides further information to support your planning.

Establishing realistic and robust assumptions can assist you in planning for delivering these key processes. Sound assumptions can provide useful evidence in explaining your decisions and you should therefore document them. Sharing the assumptions with stakeholders at an early stage will also allow them to be tested by others for robustness before the detailed planning has been completed and will help build confidence in your plans. 

Your planning should include assumptions covering expected:

• turnout on polling day
• turnout of postal voters
• number of candidates
• availability of staff
• speed and capability of staff
• timings for completing each process

All plans and assumptions should be kept under regular review. This will help inform a realistic assessment of whether you will be able to deliver the overall plan, and whether and when it may be necessary to implement contingency plans.

In all cases your plan should be flexible enough to allow you to respond if any of your assumptions change, covering what contingency actions you will take in such circumstances, and you should communicate with stakeholders throughout your planning process and be prepared to explain the reasons for the decisions you are taking. For key decisions, you should provide your reasons to stakeholders in writing.

Turnout

The expected turnout is a crucial factor in determining your planning and understanding what resources will be needed for most processes, in particular for polling stations and the verification and count. You should decide what the expected turnout is likely to be - taking into account the potential for late engagement and interest in the elections by which point scope for adjusting plans will be limited.

Your turnout estimate should be based on the assumption that, as a minimum, the turnout of voters will be not less than the turnout at the last equivalent polls.

You should consider the impact of the changes to the postal vote application process and the impact of this on the volume of projected postal votes issued. 

You should also consider the patterns of postal vote return rates at previous polls and anything that might affect this. For example, local events could conceivably result in a late surge of registration and absent voting applications, altering the traditional pattern of when completed postal votes are returned, as well as have an impact on turnout.

It is always safest to err on the side of caution when it comes to turnout as national and local developments can result in rapid changes to the actual turnout.

The resources you have available to conduct these processes, including numbers of staff and size of venue, will also be a relevant consideration to your planning. 

The number of parties and/or candidates

In order to establish the likely number of candidates, you should make contact with the PARO.

The number of candidates standing at an election will affect your planning considerations. For example, a large number of candidates standing for election could mean that: 

• ballot papers will be large and staff and voters may be slower handling them
• more space will be required to accommodate the large ballot papers
• the counting process for separating the votes into bundles of candidates may be slower and take up more space
• more space for candidates and agents may be required at the venues

The number of candidates will also impact on the planning when taking decisions on venues, count layout, necessary equipment and staffing requirements.  

Staffing and timings

You should look at the number of staff and the processes used at the last equivalent polls and the number of ballot papers that were processed. An evaluation of the processes and staffing ratios, and when the various stages of the election process were completed, can then be used to inform decisions for these elections.

You should share these details and timings with stakeholders together with the assumptions that underpin them.

Some stakeholders may hold expectations as to how quickly the processes can be completed which cannot be met in practice and this can lead to tension and frustration. To manage expectations, you should explain in some detail the processes involved and how long each stage is likely to take. For more on this, see our guidance on providing information on key election processes.

You should establish a project team to support you in carrying out your functions and in delivering a well-run election. In addition to yourself, your project team should include any appointed deputies, other election staff members and the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), where this is not yourself. 

It should also include any other key personnel you consider appropriate such as:

• your council’s communications team
• the Police Area Returning Offficer (PARO), where this is not yourself
• other Local Returning Officers (LROs) from the police area
• HR colleagues
• Finance colleagues
• IT
• your contact centre/front of house staff
• facilities staff
• your local Police single point of contact (SPOC)

The project team should have a clear remit and understanding of the tasks to be carried out. You should prepare a schedule of meetings at the planning stage, and keep a record of each meeting as an audit trail of what was discussed and of any decisions made. Where possible, the LRO should chair any formal meetings of the project team.

You should put in place deputy arrangements in case you are unable to act personally as LRO. You may appoint deputies to discharge all or any of your duties1 and this can be for a limited time period or until further notice.

Any appointed deputies should have the skills and knowledge required to carry out the functions they have been assigned such as managing the postal vote process or adjudication of doubtful ballot papers.

You must confirm any appointments in writing and include details of the functions that the deputy is authorised to exercise on your behalf.2 The acceptance should also be made in writing.

A Deputy LRO is liable, in the same way as the LRO for a breach of official duty.3

If you are not also the ERO, you will need to liaise closely with them to obtain the relevant registration and absent voting data. You should ensure that data protection is considered and that any transfer of data is secure.

If there is a need for exchanging data electronically, you should agree the timings for the exchange of data and ensure that a test of the process is carried out ahead of the first scheduled transfer. 

There will be updates to the data at a number of points within the election timetable, as the ERO must publish two interim election notices of alteration as well as the final election notice of alteration.1 You can find further information in our guidance for EROs in England and Wales. 

The Commission has published a timetable containing the dates related to the publication of these notices. 

If you are not also the PARO, you will need to work closely with them during the planning stages to help inform decisions made regarding the delivery of the election.

The PARO can issue directions on some key functions, and if this power is used, you must follow these directions.

It is important that you keep the PARO up to date with the progress of the election process you are responsible for, as well as with any emerging issues in your voting area.

If there is a need for exchanging data electronically, you should agree the timings for the exchange of data and ensure that a test of the process is carried out ahead of the first scheduled transfer. You should ensure that data protection is considered and that any transfer of data is secure.

For further information on the PARO role see our guidance for PAROs. 

You will need to appoint staff to help you undertake the various election processes. You should identify staffing requirements and put processes in place for recruiting the necessary staff. You should have access to a database of staff used at previous elections to help with this, and should also get advice from the HR team at your local authority on any external recruitment needs you may have.

Staff can also often be recruited from among local authority employees. Local authorities must permit their staff to work on the election.1

When identifying and recruiting staff, you should consider the skills appropriate to each role and use these to create a suitable job description. For example, those with experience working in finance could be recruited for the recording of unused ballot papers at the verification and count, or to work at postal vote opening sessions to record the daily totals.

As there is no age restriction for staff working on specific election processes, you could liaise with local further and higher education establishments to identify young people who could be recruited to work at polling stations or at the verification and count, which could also help to boost their engagement with the democratic process.

It may be helpful to check that your insurance covers employing staff under the age of 18.

You can find more information on the payment of fees to staff in our section on Accounting for the election.  

You should identify staffing requirements for your postal vote issuing and opening sessions. The following staff may be required:

• specially trained supervisory staff
• clerical staff
• IT staff

You must not appoint any person who has been employed by a candidate in or about the election.1

The number of different polls taking place and your decision on whether or not to do a combined or separate issue of postal votes may have an impact on the numbers of staff required for the issuing (if this is to be done in-house) and opening postal votes and you will need to plan for this accordingly.

You should be mindful of the demands on time the issue and opening of postal votes can place on core staff when considering your staffing needs.

Staffing for issuing of postal votes

There will be a number of additional postal votes issues in the immediate run-up to polling day to pick up those who have applied to vote by post and to register in the lead-up to the registration deadline.2  You will need to consider how to manage this, ensuring postal votes can be issued to electors as early as possible. 

You will also need to plan for any particular arrangements that will be required to manage the issuing of additional postal ballot packs close to polling day, where applications are determined close to the poll. For further information see our guidance on issuing postal votes.

You should take into account the total number of current postal voters and projected turnout of postal voters when deciding on your staffing arrangements, as well as the potential for late engagement and interest in the election by which point scope for adjusting plans will be limited. You should plan for the possibility that the turnout of postal voters will be not less than the turnout of postal voters at the last equivalent election. Your review of previous electoral events will give you an indication of how robust your previous staffing assumptions were.

You may need to revise this assessment after you have received the final postal voters’ lists from the ERO. You should build sufficient flexibility and contingency into your staffing arrangements to deal with a last-minute increase in numbers of postal voters, an increase in turnout, or varying volumes of postal votes being returned on different days. Your arrangements also need to be such that you can ensure you can effectively manage those delivered to polling stations on polling day.

Managing contractors

If you decide to outsource all or part of the postal vote issuing process you should designate a member of the project team to monitor outsourced work and specifically to attend those parts of the issuing process that have been contracted out. This person should also monitor the work of the contractor, which should include carrying out tasks such as:

• spot checks to ensure that the postal voting stationery does not contain any errors
• the postal ballot packs are being correctly collated 
• ensuring that any postal votes that need to go overseas are being prioritised

Further guidance on managing contractors and suppliers can be found in our guidance on Managing contractors and suppliers.  

Staffing for opening of postal votes

How the verification of personal identifiers is to be carried out, including how much of this process is automated and how much of it needs to be done manually, will impact on the numbers of staff you will require for opening returned postal votes. You must have arrangements in place to enable the checking of 100% of postal vote identifiers.3

You can find more information in our guidance on the postal vote opening process. 

It is for you to consider each polling station individually and make decisions about allocating staff and electors accordingly.

We recommend the following ratios when allocating electors and staff to polling stations:

A polling station should not have more than 2,250 electors allocated to it. 

These recommended ratios assume the poll is not combined. You should think about whether the management of more than one poll may require additional staff.

These ratios are guidance only; they are not mandatory. 

When making decisions about the allocation of electors and staff to polling stations, you should fully consider the particular circumstances of each polling station and the needs of your electorate as a whole, and document the reasoning behind the decisions you make.

As a minimum, you should consider: 

• any particular local circumstances such as population increases (for example, due to any new housing developments since your last polling place review), demographic trends, and any known needs of your local electorate (for example, any areas where you expect you may need to undertake an ID check in private more often)
• levels of postal voters
• the volume of postal votes usually handed in and the impact that the new postal vote handling measures will have on polling station staff time- including completing the postal vote handing in document accurately 
• the potential for late engagement including any local or national issues which may affect turnout and interest in the election - as a minimum you should assume that the turnout will be not less than the turnout at the last equivalent election
• the spread of voters during the day – for example, if recent trends show a large number of voters attending the station in the morning, ensure your staffing ratios allow for this and will prevent large queues from forming
• additional support electors may need in understanding any recent changes to the electoral process, especially where this may impact differently depending on which polls are taking place
• how the voter will move through the voting process from entering to exiting the polling station, taking into account the polling station size and layout 
• at combined polls, the impact the combination of polls will have, such as on the time taken to issue ballot papers and for voters to complete more than one ballot paper

This list is not exhaustive and you should also consider any other factors that you consider appropriate.

Our accessibility guidance contains additional factors to consider when planning your staffing levels at the polling station. Each decision should be taken on a case-by-case basis and not for the voting area as a whole. 

In addition to considering the number of staff you will need to manage each polling station, you should think about how you will be able to respond positively to requests from voters to have their ID checked by a female member of staff. Ideally you will have a female member of staff at each station, but where this is not possible then you should think about how you can deploy other staff flexibly to meet the request, for example by utilising female polling station inspectors who have been delegated the authority to carry out these checks. More information on polling station inspectors can be found below. 

As well as keeping a record of decisions made, you should maintain a plan which ensures you are able to respond to any issues, for example, how to deal with a queue at one or more polling stations in your area at 10pm. Voters in a queue at their polling station at 10pm must be issued with their ballot paper.1

Polling station inspectors

As well as making decisions on the number of polling station staff you will need, you should also ensure that you have sufficient numbers of polling station inspectors to support the delivery of the poll in your area. In making your decision, you should consider factors such as your local geography and the experience of polling station staff in each polling place. 

You could use female polling station inspectors to support electors who request to have their ID checked in private by a female member of staff where no female member of staff is available in a specific polling station at that time. To facilitate this, you would need to appoint the polling station inspector as a Deputy RO for polling day. You should ensure that any such appointment is clearly defined to reflect that it is solely for the purpose of making decisions on the validity of ID as part of any checks they carry out. 

More information can be found in our guidance Appointment of polling station inspectors.

Examples of staff deployment at a polling station

There are different options open to you for deploying staff within polling stations. Your plans should be sufficiently flexible to allow you to deploy staff to respond to specific issues that may arise throughout polling day.

Here are some examples:

• if you have one Presiding Officer with two additional staff allocated to a polling station, all three should be trained in the process of issuing ballot papers, checking photographic identification and filling in the associated paperwork. While two staff members carry out the issuing process, the other could act as an information officer to provide advice and assistance to voters as required
• if a polling place contains multiple polling stations, a member of staff could be used as an information officer covering all stations to assist with directing voters to the correct polling station and providing advice and assistance to voters as required
• staff from one polling station in the polling place could also be used to assist staff in another polling station within the same polling place if required, for example as a result of a high number of voters attending one of the stations at a particular time when the other station is quiet

You may also consider appointing a team of back-up polling station staff to be deployed flexibly as needed, such as at peak times or in the run-up to close of poll, or to respond to particular issues that may arise throughout polling day. For example, you could base extra staff at the largest/busiest polling place you have in an area and deploy them to other stations in the area when needed. 

If parts of the electoral area are not easily accessible, you could find it helpful to have teams positioned in different parts of the area. 

The UK government have confirmed that the funding being provided to support additional staff in polling stations is able to be used flexibly. For example, not only to employ additional poll clerks within polling stations but also to support the appointment of additional polling station inspectors or back-up staff as appropriate.

You will also need to think about how to train staff so that you can deploy them flexibly on polling day. Further guidance on training can be found in Providing training to all relevant staff.

You should prepare a list of staff you can approach who can step into a role where a person is unavailable – for example, due to sickness. The list should include staff that would be able to work at very short notice.

While appointing stand-by staff may not always be practical or feasible within your budget, you should be prepared to deploy staff flexibly on polling day to respond to specific issues that may arise. 

You may also wish to rotate staff appointed within your polling station to undertake different roles through the course of the day, such as providing information to those entering the polling station and checking voters have brought the correct photographic ID to be able to vote.

You could also consider appointing part-time Poll Clerks to provide assistance at expected peak polling hours or in the run-up to 10pm. In addition, you could appoint a team of back-up polling station staff to be deployed at peak times to specific polling stations or to respond to specific issues that may arise throughout polling day or at the close of poll. If parts of the local authority area are not easily accessible, it may be helpful to have teams positioned in different parts of the local authority area. 

To be able to deploy staff flexibly on polling day, you will need to train staff appropriately. You should train Poll Clerks and Presiding Officers in such a way as to ensure that both have the technical knowledge to carry out each other’s roles if required and as far as the law permits.

You can find further guidance on training in the section - Training presiding officers, poll clerks and polling station inspectors.

Polling station inspectors should receive the same training as polling station staff in order for them to be able to be deployed flexibly and carry out polling station duties if required. You should also provide an additional briefing for polling station inspectors, covering items that are specific to their role.

You should give both polling station staff and polling station inspectors a copy of the Commission’s handbook for polling station staff and polling station quick guide, and instruct them to read both ahead of polling day and to bring their copies with them on polling day itself. You should give spare copies of the handbook and quick guide to polling station inspectors that they can provide to polling stations in the event of polling station staff forgetting to bring their copies on polling day.

To ensure that voters can have confidence that their vote will be counted in the way they intended, you will need to put in place appropriate staff resources to ensure the verification and count are timely. 

Your decision on when to begin verification may have staffing implications, and you will need to plan accordingly. The PARO can direct you as to the time by which verification must begin.

It is important that you ensure there are the right number of competent, skilled and knowledgeable staff – and that each member of staff is clear about their role – so that the count is run efficiently and effectively and according to the principles for an effective verification and count. You should also ensure there is an appropriate number of reserve staff in case of staff absence on the day of the count.

You should consider appointing:

• senior staff to assist with the overall operation and co-ordination of processes and the calculation of the result
• staff and supervisors to deal with the secure transportation of the sealed boxes of postal ballot papers to the verification venue 
• staff and supervisors to deal with the receipt of polling station materials and postal votes
• staff and supervisors to deal with the final opening of postal votes
• staff and supervisors to deal with the verification of used and unused ballot papers, spoilt ballot papers and the tendered votes list
• staff and supervisors to deal with the sorting and counting of votes
• porters, security staff and door attendants to deal with the security of the site
• person(s) with knowledge of the site to deal with the management of the facilities within and around the site
• responsible officer(s) to oversee the security of ballot boxes and relevant stationery where there is a break in proceedings or where ballot papers need to be packaged up and delivered to another venue at the end of verification
• experienced media liaison staff
• any other members of staff you consider necessary

While it may not be realistic to expect all verification and count staff to be fully utilised at every stage of the verification and count process, a responsive management plan which monitors activity levels and allows for reallocation of resources could reduce the length of time taken to complete key stages of the process.

There will also be an expectation among candidates, parties and the media for results to be declared as soon as possible and this too will need to be kept in mind in determining staffing requirements. 

If the verification process is commenced immediately following the close of poll, you should, wherever possible, not use staff who have been on polling duty all day.

You must not appoint any person who has been employed by or on behalf of a candidate in or about the election.1  

You should identify support staff and ensure they are available to assist with any public enquiries you may receive in the run-up to the election. There may be opportunities to utilise your council’s existing support staff to perform this role.

The support staff that you utilise should be trained to understand that there are various barriers that disabled electors may face when accessing information or voting in a polling station. Disabled voters may contact the LRO to identify a particular area that they need support with in the polling station. You can find more information on understanding barriers to voting in our guidance.

Managing enquiries from the public

You should set up a dedicated team to deal with a range of basic enquiries, such as questions about whether or not a person is registered to vote, postal and proxy voting and the location of polling stations. Where you are not also the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), you will need to work with the ERO for your local authority as appropriate to facilitate this. 

Staff dealing with public enquiries should receive training to deal with them and also be provided with:

• agreed responses to frequently asked questions
• a list of the locations of polling stations
• details of key dates in the election timetable 
• details of the process in place to escalate more complex enquiries to the election team

Processing applications

The ERO should consider whether they will need any additional support staff to assist with the processing of registration and absent vote applications in the lead-up to the election – and in particular in the lead-up to the registration deadline on the 12th working day before the poll. Where you are not also the ERO, you should liaise with them to understand how they will manage the likely increase in applications close to deadlines, so that all staff involved in the election and the managing of queries have a clear understanding and can inform electors appropriately.

Further information on processing registration and absent vote applications in the lead-up to an election can be found in the Running Electoral Registration guidance for EROs in England and Wales and Absent voting sections of our guidance for EROs in England and Wales.

Receiving postal votes at the council offices

Only people authorised to act on your behalf can receive postal votes returned by hand to you. You should consider whether you will authorise additional support staff to assist with the receipt of completed postal votes that are returned by members of the public to council offices.

You should keep a record of the people you have authorised to act on your behalf and receive postal votes returned by hand.

Our guidance about the procedure to be followed when postal votes are handed in to the Local Returning Officer at council offices has more information. 

You should establish a training plan at an early stage in your planning for the election which identifies the training needs of both permanent and temporary staff in the delivery of their roles. 

Each member of the team, whether permanent or temporary, needs to understand their particular role and any statutory obligations associated with the work they are undertaking. All staff should receive training on the legislative requirements and responsibilities relevant to their role, as well as training on understanding accessibility needs, ensuring equal access and good customer care.

Your plan should also include how you will evaluate the training sessions and materials used in order to inform future planning. If you have training or learning and development personnel within your local authority they may be able to assist you with this process.

Data protection training

Whilst the training you offer each member of the team will be tailored to their specific role, everyone handling personal data should be aware of and trained in the legal requirements for handling personal data in line with data protection legislation. 

You should discuss your plans for data protection training with your council’s Data Protection Officer. Data protection training will help you to embed the data protection principles in your work and demonstrate compliance with data protection legislation. 

The PARO may also facilitate training within the police area. Where this is the case, you should ensure that you and your staff attend the relevant training sessions.

All staff authorised to receive postal votes handed in to the Local Returning Officer should receive training to ensure that the correct processes are followed.

The training session should address:

• how to identify if a postal vote is for an election in the correct area
• the process for accepting and rejecting postal votes delivered by hand
• completing the postal vote return form accurately
• making up the separate packets for postal votes accepted and rejected and the accompanying postal vote return forms
• storing packets securely until they are delivered to the Local Returning Officer

Our guidance about the procedure to be followed when postal votes are handed in to the Local Returning Officer at council offices has more information. 
 

Presiding Officers, Poll Clerks and other front line staff are frequently the only members of your staff that voters will meet in person. It is essential that such staff are trained to understand their role and to perform their duties professionally and effectively, and are able to provide a high standard of customer care. 

Such staff need to be able to communicate well with all voters. To ensure that staff understand the barriers that some disabled people face when voting, accessibility issues should be covered in training.

You should give polling station staff and polling station inspectors a copy of the Commission’s handbook for polling station staff and polling station quick guide and instruct them to read both ahead of polling day and to bring their copies with them on polling day itself.

Polling station inspectors will also need spare copies of the handbook and quick guide to give to polling station staff who have forgotten to bring their copies on polling day.

All polling station staff should be required to attend a training session. The training session should address:

• the tasks to be carried out ahead of polling day 
• the setting up and management of the polling station 
• who can attend a polling station and the procedures to be followed on polling day itself including checking photographic ID, marking the register and filling in the required forms during the poll
• the process for collection, acceptance, and rejection of postal votes handed in at the polling station and completion of the postal vote handing in document accurately
• the need for polling station staff to be customer-focused and to offer assistance to all voters, including being aware of accessibility needs for disabled voters
• the security of election stationery, including returned postal votes
• the importance of handling personal data in line with data protection legislation
• the procedures to be followed at the close of poll
• health and safety issues

You should provide polling station staff and polling station inspectors with contact numbers for use in the event of any problems. As well as numbers for the elections office, this should include a contact number for the police.

Training all staff, including polling station inspectors, on the roles and responsibilities associated with working in the polling station can help provide contingency in the event of loss of staff. For more information see our guidance on Flexible staffing at polling stations.

We have prepared resources to support your training including:  

• a template PowerPoint briefing for polling station staff which you can update with any additional local information you consider necessary 
• a quiz for polling station staff and role play exercises and scenarios that you can use as a mechanism for testing and embedding learning 
• an exercise on completing the ballot paper accounts, to provide the foundation for an accurate verification
• a template graphical guide to packaging materials at the close of poll is also available, for you to adapt and provide to polling station staff

Training polling station inspectors

You should provide an additional briefing for polling station inspectors, covering items that are specific to their role and ensuring they are aware of the checklist for polling station inspectors. We have developed a template checklist for polling station inspectors that you may find helpful.

Your training should communicate that polling station inspectors play an important role in the effective management of the poll and should be able to deal with queries and problems arising at the polling station on polling day. Polling station inspectors must ensure that all of their assigned polling stations are properly set up, fully equipped and accessible to all voters and that they can identify and deal with any problems arising. For example, if there are any queues building up the polling station inspector should be able to find a solution to reduce them.

In certain circumstances, such as if a private check of a female elector's photographic ID is required for religious reasons, female Polling Station Inspectors may also be required to attend a polling station to check the photographic ID if a polling station only has male staff.

Training should also emphasise that the collection of postal votes as directed by the Local Returning Officer is a task that must be conducted with care, making sure that all those collected are properly and accurately logged. At no time should these postal votes be left in a vehicle while the polling station inspector visits the polling stations. 

You should make the polling station inspector aware that they may be involved in liaising with the elections office regarding clerical errors on the register and emergency proxy applications.

You should ensure that each polling station inspector receives the following items:

• a mobile phone (if required)
• an ID badge clearly showing their name as a representative of the Local Returning Officer
• a label for the car windscreen with appropriate identification
• a map of the area identifying the location of all of the polling places allocated to the inspector
• the names of all polling station staff and a contact number for each of the Presiding Officers
• a contact list of all of the key holders for the polling places in the allocated area (it may also be useful to have the contact number of a locksmith in case a lock is jammed)
• a contact number for the police
• a ballot box with spare seals
• a sundries box with spare stationery and forms
• polling station handbooks and quick guides
• a copy of the register for each polling station
• spare ballot papers (sealed and only to be used in an emergency)
• a wallet/packet with a sealing mechanism to collect returned postal votes, along with a log for recording number of postal votes removed, the time of collection and details of the person who collected them
• a spare blank ballot paper account
• a polling place/station checklist to be completed for each polling place
• copies of the Code of conduct for tellers and any other local instructions

You should ensure that staff receive appropriate training and instructions to allow them to carry out their duties effectively and in accordance with the law. Training should include what staff should look for when examining ballot papers to determine which should be included in the count.

You should brief all verification and count staff so that they are fully aware of their duties and what will be expected of them. All briefings should, as a minimum, cover the procedures relevant to the roles.

The processes involved at the verification and count can be complicated and you may find that the best way of training senior staff is to prepare a small scale ‘mock’ verification and count with a few hundred ballot papers. This will give staff the opportunity to physically work through the processes involved, completing the necessary paperwork and adjudicating on the sample ballot papers. This requires some resource to achieve but it can be a valuable tool in ensuring the verification and count runs smoothly and is timely on the night.

Prior to the start of the verification and count proceedings, you should undertake a walk-through of the procedures you are expecting everyone to follow so that everyone is aware of what is expected of them at each stage, and how the different roles relate to each other.

Further information is available in our guidance on the principles of an effective verification and count.

If you are also the Police Area Returning Officer (PARO), you will need to ensure staff receive relevant training on the transmission of local totals. Further guidance is included in our PARO planning guidance

As part of any Polling Place Review, you should evaluate the suitability of the polling stations that are available for use in the appropriate electoral area.

It is essential that polling stations provide sufficient space for voting to take place.

Ideally, you will have the choice of a range of fully accessible buildings, conveniently located for electors in the area, with owners willing to hire them out for polling station use at low cost. Unfortunately, in practice, this is often not the case and in some areas there may be little choice available. 

You will need to take access needs into account when planning the layout and set up of polling stations to ensure that all voters receive a high-quality service. This should include disabled voters who may need additional equipment or seating. More guidance is available on the types of equipment you may need to consider in our guidance on providing equipment at the polling station.

The size of polling stations should be big enough to enable a clear flow of voters to try to reduce the risk of congestion or queues. You will also need to ensure there is an area identified for checking photographic ID in private, if requested.

You should be able to demonstrate that assessments have been conducted of the polling stations to be used at the election. Where access problems exist, you should document the problems, identify potential improvements and record any action taken to try to remedy these problems.

You should ensure that any additional equipment required to make the polling station accessible will be delivered and set up before the opening of the poll.

The polling station handbook provides further information on how to set up polling stations to ensure they are accessible for all voters.

There may be circumstances (e.g., flooding, fire, vandalism) when a change of polling station is required at short notice. As part of your contingency planning, you should compile a list of stand-by or portable polling stations that could be used in such circumstances. Local authorities are responsible for designating polling places and polling districts and you must designate a new polling station within the same polling place.1  

Usually, if there is a need to change the polling place, council agreement will be required. If delegation procedures are in place, you should follow these and contact the person or persons who are entitled to make changes to the scheme of polling places.

However, flood, fire or vandalism occurring in the immediate lead-up to polling day could constitute a ‘special circumstance’, enabling you to designate a polling station outside the polling place without the need to seek council agreement.

You should amend and republish the notice of situation of polling stations to reflect any changes to your polling stations.

There are a number of mitigating measures you can take to ensure that electors who are affected by a late change to a polling station are able to vote with minimum disruption. You should have a protocol for what to do in case of a last-minute change. As a minimum, you should:

• use social media to inform electors that there has been a change to a polling station
• if time allows, send out a letter to all affected electors informing them of the change to their polling station
• if time allows, use the local media to disseminate information to the affected electors – for example, through issuing press releases
• put up signs at the old polling station informing electors about the change, including directions to the new one
• display clear and visible signage at the new polling station 

Where any last minute changes to polling stations are required, ROs should ensure equipment to support disabled voters is still provided.

You should ensure that the verification and count processes are designed and managed to secure an accurate result, with a clear audit trail and that they are transparent, with everything carried out in clear view of all those entitled to attend.

The Police Area Returning Officer (PARO) may decide that part or all of the verification and count processes for some or all voting areas in the police area will be carried out at a central venue. If this is the case, you should make the practical arrangements for carrying out the verification and count processes in accordance with that decision and any directions, guidance or protocols that the PARO has issued.

Selecting the venue(s)

When selecting the venue for your verification and count, you should consider:

• convenience of the location of the venue
• lessons learnt from previous electoral events
• access arrangements for vehicles and parking
• entrances for those entitled to attend and staff, and for the delivery of the ballot boxes
• disabled access, both to and within the venue
• size of the venue taking into account:
  • the space required to conduct the verification and count processes
  • sufficient storage space for parcels, ballot boxes and other equipment
  • adequate space for those entitled to attend and observe proceedings at the count
• lighting within the venue and externally
• heating of the venue
• platform or stage for announcing the results, and for making regular announcements throughout the proceedings
• acoustics within the venue
• internal and external IT and communication systems, including any needed for communicating with and transmitting information, including results, to the PARO
• facilities for those attending the verification and count
• media requirements
• furniture requirements
• security and storage requirements
• contingency arrangements to address the risk of a loss of venue

You should ensure that all equipment, including the equipment to be used to transmit information and local totals to the PARO, is tested in advance of the verification and count. You should also ensure that you have contingency arrangements in place in case of equipment or power malfunction.

Planning the layout

You need to ensure that all your processes are transparent, with everything at the verification and count carried out in clear view of all those entitled to attend enabling them to have confidence that the count process is well-managed and so that they can have confidence in the result.

You should prepare layout plans of your verification and count venue(s) at an early stage. A good layout will be informed by the verification and count model you decide to adopt, consideration of the workflows you intend to follow and the space you will have available. 

To avoid any issues at the verification and count you should put yourself in the position of a candidate or agent when planning the layout to test whether the arrangements deliver the necessary transparency.

However, you also need to ensure that the work of your staff is not disrupted by those observing the process.

In considering the layout and organisation of the verification and count, you should consider that:

• appropriate security arrangements are in place to ensure that only those eligible to attend actually do so
• there are sufficient tables to accommodate the number of verification and counting staff you have appointed and adequate space for the processes to be carried out efficiently
• the layout of the tables:
  • takes into account the number of counting agents that are likely to be appointed to oversee the verification and count, as well as others entitled to be present
  • allows easy viewing by all of those entitled to be present
  • takes into account the number and size of the ballot papers
• the space around the tables and circulation areas has been maximised and any obstructions removed
• there is sufficient seating for those entitled to attend proceedings
• the public address system is in working order with sufficient range 
• the requirements of the media have been considered, e.g. by the provision of a separate media area, as they are likely to require space for their specialist (sometimes bulky) equipment
• the health and safety of all those attending has been assessed, for example:
  • any cabling from equipment or media cameras should not present a trip hazard to anyone at the proceedings
  • free access to emergency exits should not be obstructed in any way
  • maximum venue capacity should not be exceeded
     

You should consider designating areas for specific functions and identify what furniture and equipment will be required for each.

Arrival at the venue

Car parking and vehicle access

It is advisable to designate different parking areas for candidates, agents and observers, and for staff. It can be helpful to have a designated entrance and exit to the car park, to avoid congestion, such as when ballot boxes are arriving from the polling stations.

It may be useful to have staff supervising the car park at this time. Any staff working in the car parking area should be equipped with appropriate safety wear such as high-visibility jackets, and should be trained to deal with a large volume of traffic including, for example, counting agents arriving at the proceedings and polling station staff arriving with ballot boxes. 

Entrance

Staff should be positioned at the entrance(s) to check whether people seeking to enter the verification and count are entitled to do so. It can be helpful to have different entrances for staff and for other attendees. Additionally you should ensure that your entrance arrangements avoid creating a bottleneck which could delay the start of the verification and count. 

Receiving area

This is where ballot boxes, ballot paper accounts and other polling station stationery and equipment will arrive for checking in and sorting. Ideally, this area should have an entrance separate from that used by other staff, candidates, agents and observers, with direct access from the car park or loading area. 

Processing Areas

Verification, reconciliation and results tables

This is where the verification staff will verify the contents of the ballot boxes and reconcile the total number of votes. If laptops are to be used, you should take cabling arrangements into account and consider contingency arrangements in the event of equipment failure. 

If you need to communicate local count totals to the PARO for collating the results you will also require an area for this communication to take place.

RO’s table

This is where you should keep law textbooks, Electoral Commission guidance, procedure notes, spare staff instructions, staff lists, stationery and other guidance materials available for reference.

Count tables

These should provide proper separation for the staff and counting agents. Where space permits, chairs could be provided close to these tables for counting agents and observers.

You may wish to use measures to separate staff working at counting tables and those observing. However, these measures should not negatively impact on the ability of candidates and agents to oversee and scrutinise the verification and count processes, including the adjudication of doubtful ballot papers.  

Postal voting area

Where postal votes are to be opened and the personal identifiers checked at the verification venue, you should allocate a separate area for processing unopened packets of accepted postal votes handed in at polling stations and council offices. You will need to allocate adequate space to receive, open and verify the identifiers on these postal votes, and to allow observation of these processes. 

You will need to consider network and cabling arrangements if using verification software for personal identifier verification.

Tables for counted ballot papers

Once ballot papers have been sorted and counted into votes for individual parties and/or candidates, as appropriate, they should be placed in bundles (e.g. 100 ballot papers) and put on a separate table, so that all of the votes for each party or candidate are kept together.  

Candidates and agents are likely to expect all the bundles for all the parties and/ or candidates (as appropriate) to be placed in one central location so they can see the comparative numbers of votes for each party and/or candidate.  This needs to be considered particularly when the verification and count has been sub-divided into areas smaller than the electoral area.

Other areas

Area for candidates, agents, observers and guests

If possible, consider setting aside a separate area for candidates, agents, observers and guests with access to television coverage of the elections.

Area for refreshments

Consider providing an area where counting assistants and other staff can have a drink and a snack – they may be advised to bring some drink and food along or this could be provided for them. The verification and count can be a lengthy process and it is important to have adequate refreshments available to help to maintain staff energy and concentration levels. 

To avoid the possibility of any spillages you should not allow counting assistants to eat or drink at the counting tables.  However, you could consider allowing the consumption of bottled water (with non-spill tops) at the count tables. Many ROs also provide facilities for candidates, agents, observers and other attendees to purchase refreshments on site.

Media area

The requirements for the media area will depend upon the types of media represented and their respective needs. For example, if television cameras are present, any lighting should not cause undue heat or glare which might impair the efficiency of the count, and cameras must not be allowed to film close-ups of the ballot papers. In addition, it is important that there are no trailing cables for count attendees to trip over, and that any equipment installed is safely positioned.

You could consider establishing areas for media representatives that allow the opportunity to oversee the proceedings from a distance and fulfil their role to report on the progress and results throughout the event.

Declaration area

A raised platform on which the local totals/results can be declared. If you are also the PARO, if space allows you should gather candidates together for the announcements and allow acceptance and concession speeches. 

If you decide that these traditional arrangements will not be feasible at your venue, you should ensure that you are nevertheless able to communicate the results of the polls in line with legislative requirements and that all stakeholders, including media representatives, are aware of your planned arrangements in advance.
 

You can outsource particular work required to deliver the election, but not the responsibility for ensuring compliance with the legislation. 

Do not automatically assume that outsourcing is your only and best option. You should make an assessment of the need to outsource. Your decision should be taken as part of an assessment of the costs, risks and benefits of outsourcing work, compared to in-house delivery by your staff. 

Your review of previous electoral events and consideration of the specific requirements for the election will help to inform your decision as to whether or not to outsource a particular function or task.

If outsourcing is considered appropriate, your project plan should cover the management of contractors and suppliers and the development and management of contracts.

Finding printers

If you decide to outsource production and are having difficulty finding a suitable printer, the British Printing Industries Federation may be contacted for assistance:

British Printing Industries Federation
Head Office
Unit 2 
Villiers Court
Meriden Business Park
Copse Drive
Coventry
CV5 9RN
Tel: 0845 250 7050
www.britishprint.com

When appointing a contractor or supplier you must ensure that they can provide sufficient guarantees that the requirements of data protection legislation will be met.

The requirements state that the supplier and any sub-contractors must ensure:

• the secure destruction of all electoral registration data and related materials at an agreed point
• the safe/secure storage of all live ballot papers 
• the secure destruction of all data related to the ballot papers at an agreed point, for example, as soon as possible after polling day

You should ensure that data protection is integral in any tender exercise (documenting your decision-making process) and that specific requirements are met in any contract awarded. You should liaise with your council’s Data Protection/Information Officer to ensure compliance with data protection legislation.

There are specific requirements under data protection legislation where you are using a contractor (i.e. a ‘processor’) to process personal data on your behalf. This would include, for example, where you are sending data to a contractor to election materials such as postal ballot packs or ballot papers.

As RO you are the data controller and you remain ultimately responsible for ensuring that personal data is processed in accordance with data protection legislation. However, if a processor fails to meet any of its obligations, or acts against your instructions, then it may also be liable to pay damages or be subject to fines or other penalties or corrective measures. The ICO has provided guidance on ‘Contracts and liabilities between controllers and processors’ which you should consider in relation to your contracts with data processors. 

Please see our data protection guidance on Using contractors and suppliers for further information.

The key to effective contract management is continuous and open lines of communication between you and your nominated contract manager, underpinned by clear and robust provisions in the contract as to the quality and timescales expected and required. 

The contract should outline basic details regarding the products and services being delivered, such as specifications, quantities, timeframes and cost.  

The contract must allow you to terminate the contract in the case of:

• a negligent act or omission
• an act resulting in you being unable to perform your statutory duties 
• insolvency or dissolution of the company affecting the contract

The supplier should also have adequate insurance in place to cover risks in relation to public liability and professional negligence. 

It should also support the quality assurance process by containing specific details of the following subject areas:  

Business continuity plans (BCPs)

It is key that your contract arrangements should outline how your supplier will continue operating during an unplanned disruption in service. The detail may be held outside of your formal contract, but you should ensure that you get assurance that such BCPs exist, and ideally you should be able to view these for your own reference.

Service level agreements (SLAs) 

Your contract should define exactly what services a supplier will provide and the required level or standard for those services. For example, this may include details of how quickly emails will be replied to, cover your rights and those of Electoral Commission representatives and accredited observers to access supplier premises for the purposes of observation, or to enable you to carry out quality assurance checks, agree the amount of slippage for any deadlines that is permitted by both sides under the contract, and how any failures to meet SLAs will be dealt with, both in terms of delivery and any related compensation. Such SLAs will help define what you can expect as a customer and how you and your supplier will work together. 

You should establish a procedure to enable you to carry out proof-checking on print-ready proofs and test documents within the agreed timescales. You should also agree a process to rectify any errors.

Any variations from the agreed specification could result in a breach of legislation and any such breach is the personal responsibility of the Local Returning Officer (LRO), so any variations should be formally documented and signed off by you or by someone authorised to act on your behalf. The contract should be capable of being adapted to take account of unscheduled activities and last minute changes. You should ensure that contractors are aware of how registration deadlines may impact on timescales. For example, EROs have until the determination deadline (i.e. 6 working days before the poll) to receive the required evidence from a prospective elector under the exceptions process and make their determination.1 If the elector also applied to vote by post, this will impact on the number of postal votes to be included in the last issue. If there is slippage, for example because of the time required to process bulk last minute postal vote applications, you should advise the contractors as soon as possible.

Data protection arrangements

Ensure that you cover the specifics of the data to be processed, including the types of data, the duration of the processing and the rights and obligations of both parties. This should also include instructions for deleting data after the processing has been completed. It is a legal requirement under current data protection legislation to formalise the working relationship with suppliers contracted to process data you hold, in a written contract. For further information see our guidance on data protection considerations when using contractors and suppliers.

You should also consider confidentiality clauses. While ROs are not subject to freedom of information requests, in the interests of transparency, consideration should be given to agreeing to some disclosure in the event of an FOI request. However, you and the supplier must not divulge any confidential information relating the terms of the contract.

You must provide suppliers with a copy of the requirements of secrecy:

Use of any sub-contractors

Your supplier should identify where they will be subcontracting any element of the delivery of their services. For election suppliers this could be in relation to production, fulfilment or delivery of materials. Whilst the use of sub-contractors is commonplace to many industries, and should not in itself be a cause of concern, it is important that you are aware of whether your suppliers utilise the services of sub-contractors and the quality assurance processes they have in place to ensure that any work delivered by third parties maintains the standards as set out in your contract with them, including data protection and secrecy requirements.

Invoicing arrangements 

You should ensure that all supporting information in relation to the costs charged and will be sent by the supplier in accordance with the tender/quote. You must settle the invoice within the agreed time.
 

Voters and campaigners should be confident that:

• elections are free from fraud
• votes cast will be counted in the way that voters intended
• the results you declare are true and accurate 

Trust and confidence in the integrity of elections is essential but can be fragile. It will be difficult for you to rebuild trust or confidence which has been lost as a result of allegations or proven cases of fraud. 

You should put in place effective strategies for preventing electoral fraud from the outset. You will also need to be prepared to work with the police and prosecutors to subsequently investigate any allegations which might be made. 

You should cover your approach to tackling electoral fraud with parties, candidates and agents at briefing sessions and as part of any written information provided to them. You should also invite the police to attend any such briefing sessions and invite them to supply you with any relevant documentation to include in your information pack.

This guidance deals specifically with the risk of electoral fraud in relation to election processes. Information on dealing with integrity issues related to fraudulant registration or absent vote applications can be found in the ERO guidance:

Identifying suspicious registration applications in England and Wales

Identifying suspicious absent vote applications in England and Wales

Offences

There are a number of electoral offences specified in electoral law. Our guidance for candidates and agents provides information on these offences. 

Dealing with allegations of financial offences

Candidates and their agents must follow rules set out in legislation about how much they can spend at an election. We produce guidance for candidates and agents, parties and non-party campaigners outlining rules on spending. 

Any queries on election spending should be referred to the Electoral Commission’s Party Election Finance team via email: [email protected] or telephone: 0333 103 1928
 

Although there are no definitive signs of possible electoral fraud, you will need to have in place mechanisms to identify any patterns of activity that might indicate potential electoral fraud. You should be aware of and consider all the data which is available to you, including whether there:

• have been unusual patterns of rejected ballot papers, including rejected postal ballot packs, at previous elections
• are any unusual patterns of registration or absent vote applications in the period leading up to the election

We also have further guidance on identifying suspicious:

• registration applications in England and Wales
• absent vote applications in England and Wales
• Voter Authority Certificate applications in England and Wales

You are uniquely placed to identify incidents and patterns of activity that might indicate electoral fraud in your area. Taking early action to address possible fraud could help to avoid costly police investigations or legal challenges to the results of elections. 

You should ensure that you have mechanisms in place to assess the risk of electoral fraud in your area, including considering:

• whether there has been a history of allegations of electoral fraud in the area 
• whether the election is likely to be particularly close and hard fought
• whether it is a marginal seat, which would need only a relatively small swing in the number of votes to change control
• whether there is a contest based on strong personal disagreements as well as political arguments
• risks where there is a highly mobile population with a frequent turnover of electors
• risks where there are electors who may be more vulnerable because of low levels of literacy and/or English language ability

You should have in place plans and processes to maintain the integrity of the election. 

Your plans should be developed in consultation with the police single point of contact (SPOC). The plans should include:

• how you will work with the local police and the SPOC, outlining the division of responsibilities so that there is clarity about each other’s roles, clear lines of communication and agreement how regularly you would expect to be in contact 
• how you will communicate your approach to maintaining electoral integrity with stakeholders and electors, in order to support public confidence in the election
• mechanisms for monitoring indicators of possible electoral fraud and thresholds for action in response
• specific steps to deal with any potential electoral fraud such as:
  • an agreed approach for referring allegations of fraud for further investigation where appropriate
  • establishing a process for handling evidence, so that the police can carry out any forensic analysis
  • any specific risks you have identified in addition to any general fraud detection plans

Specific risks might include the risks associated with houses of multiple occupation such as student halls of residence or care homes where other people may have access to personal mail or where care givers may assist residents in care homes with completing postal vote applications or postal votes.

The PARO may also share the approach to tackling electoral fraud with parties, candidates and agents at briefing sessions and/or within the information provided to them. 

The PARO may also consider inviting the police to attend any such briefing sessions.

Making plans to ensure the security of papers

Your project plan should include a review of security arrangements with the local police to ensure the security of ballot papers throughout the process.

Your security arrangements should prevent unauthorised access to or use of the ballot papers during all stages of the production process and storage between printing and the poll.

You should also take all necessary steps to ensure the security of ballot boxes and relevant stationery from the close of poll through to the declaration of the result, particularly where there is a break in proceedings. Where there is a pause in proceedings for the whole or any part of the period between 7pm and 9am on the next day, you have a legal duty to place the documents under your seal and to take proper precautions for the security of the papers and documents.1 You should liaise with your SPOC on this.

Whichever method of storage you choose, it should be such that you can be satisfied that you have taken all necessary steps to ensure that ballot boxes and other items are kept securely at all times and cannot be interfered with.

You should consider the security risks of the verification and count as part of your integrity planning and include them on your risk register. Security risks may vary within the electoral area and you may need to take a different approach in particular instances. You should consider liaising with your local police single point of contact (SPOC) when deciding on the most appropriate method for transporting and ensuring secure storage of ballot boxes and other materials. 

We have developed a template risk and issues register that you can use to record any risks you identify. It contains examples that you will need to consider and, if necessary, mitigate, as well as a log to record any issues that emerge and that you will need to address. Alternatively, you may wish to include risks including our examples in any risk management documentation you have already developed.

At the count venue, you should arrange to have robust arrangements in place to check in all the materials and paperwork delivered to ensure that nothing is missing.
 
You need to decide how the ballot papers and other materials will be kept secure once they arrive at the verification and count venue, for example, by ensuring they are never left unattended. 

You should also take all necessary steps to ensure the security of ballot boxes and relevant stationery from the close of poll through to the declaration of the result, particularly where there is a break in proceedings. 

Where there is a pause in proceedings for the whole or any part of the period between 7pm and 9am the next day, you have a legal duty to place the documents under your seal and to take proper precautions for the security of the papers and documents. You should liaise with your SPOC on this.

You will need to have contingency arrangements in place in the event of any evacuation from any premises and consider how you will ensure the security of the ballot boxes and other materials.

You should also brief candidates and agents about your security arrangements, so that they can have confidence in the integrity of the count.

Every UK police force has a named single point of contact (SPOC) officer for election-related crime. Your local police force SPOC will be a key partner to help you to ensure that any possible integrity issues are quickly identified and dealt with. 

You should make contact with your named SPOC at the outset of your election planning process. Once established, you should maintain this contact throughout the election period. If you have any problems establishing contact with your SPOC, please contact your local Commission team.

Your discussions should cover your plans for maintaining the integrity of the election and your mechanisms for identifying possible fraud and what actions should be taken where any suspicions arise. 

A checklist of topics that should be considered at any pre-election planning meeting between you and your SPOC is available to support your discussions. 

You should agree an approach with your SPOC for referring allegations of fraud you may receive for further investigation where appropriate. For example, will you be the initial point of contact and refer allegations to the SPOC, or will they be the initial point of contact and advise you of allegations? 

You should also agree a mechanism for handling evidence, so that the police can carry out any forensic analysis, where necessary. The College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice have provided guidance to local authorities for handling evidence.

In addition, you should take all necessary steps to ensure that police officers which includes police community support officers, attend at polling stations or call in during polling day, as appropriate, and discuss any security issues relating to any other aspects of the process including community safety for voters.

You may also decide to undertake joint publicity work with the police to support your work in maintaining the integrity of the election. For example, you could collaborate on running public awareness campaigns within the electoral area to highlight what can be done to help detect and prevent electoral fraud. 

A template memorandum of understanding between the Returning Officer and the police on the joint planning for elections and the reporting and investigating of electoral malpractice is available on the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice website.

Allegations and cases of electoral fraud will not only have a negative impact on the confidence of electors and campaigners, but they may also have a significant impact on your capacity to manage the election process effectively.

It is important that once you have put in place your plans for monitoring and maintaining the integrity of the election in your area you offer clear advice to candidates, agents and electors on how to make allegations to ensure an effective and consistent approach is taken to managing them.  

You should ensure that all candidates and agents understand:

• how to raise specific concerns about electoral fraud relating to the election
• what type and level of evidence will be necessary to enable allegations to be investigated by the police
• how allegations will be dealt with
• what information and feedback they should be able to expect about the progress of any investigations 

The police will investigate any allegations of fraud until, following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) , they are either satisfied that no further action is necessary or appropriate, or they forward the case file to the CPSfor prosecution. The police should keep you and, where appropriate, the ERO informed of the progress of the case.

The Commission and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (formerly the Association of Chief Police Officers) have supported the College of Policing to produce a manual of guidance for policing elections.

You should also be aware that because of the unique nature of the PCC elections there may be instances when the police force decides that it would be appropriate to ask another force to investigate allegations of electoral fraud or malpractice relating to these elections. In such an instance you should ensure that you make contact with the relevant lead officer from the force leading the investigation as quickly as possible.

Following consultation with Returning Officers, police forces and political parties, the Commission has produced a Code of Conduct for campaigners at elections and referendums. The code applies to all campaigners and sets out agreed standards of appropriate behaviour before and during an election or referendum.

The College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice has developed a template letter seeking agreement from candidates to abide by the Code of Conduct and you should provide this to all candidates standing at a PCC election.

The Code also makes it clear that if an LRO considers it appropriate to address further specific local risks, and has consulted with the relevant national and local parties, we will support them in introducing additional local provisions which go beyond the terms of the nationally agreed code.

The Code also covers the requirement for photographic identification to be shown at polling stations. We consulted with the political parties that sit on the Westminster Parliamentary Parties Panel on this update to the code.

As Local Returning Officer (LRO), it is part of your role to ensure that everyone who wants to participate in the election is able to access clear information to enable them to do so. 

This section contains guidance to support the development of your plans for communicating with a range of audiences in advance of and during the election period. 

It includes guidance on public awareness activities to both encourage participation and to ensure that electors have the information they need in advance of polling day to assist them in ensuring they know what they need to do to vote.

It also contains guidance on planning your engagement with candidates and agents to support their participation in the election. Early engagement is key to ensuring everyone has a good understanding of the requirements of candidature, and resulting obligations during an election. 

Finally, it contains guidance to support your plan for communicating with the media and other stakeholders.

General guidance for EROs on working with partners is contained in our guidance for EROs.
 

You must take appropriate steps to encourage the participation of electors in the election, and in carrying out such activity you must have regard to any guidance issued by the Electoral Commission.1 Part of this engagement activity should include how you will communicate the voting process and support available for disabled voters. This should be both directly with local disability organisations and more general signposting to accessible communications, such as providing online versions of documents that are easy-read, compatible with screen-readers, or available in large print.

The PARO also has a duty to encourage the participation of electors, so you should consider how your activity can be coordinated with the PARO’s strategy and plans.2

Where you are not also the ERO, you should liaise with them to ensure that all of your activities are aligned and are designed to maximise impact ahead of the registration deadline. For more information on engagement as an ERO see our guidance on your public engagement strategy and registration plan in England or Wales.

Your activity and messaging should aim to ensure that everyone who wants to vote has the information to do so, and can vote using their preferred method. All outgoing communications should provide appropriate contact details to allow anyone to respond and obtain further information.

When planning your activity you should consider and document:

• the identification of your target audience
• the objectives and success measures of the activity 
• any risks –and mitigation of those risks
• resources – both financial and staffing
• plans for collaborative working with relevant local partners, including experts in the communications department of the local authority

Information required by electors in order to successfully participate may include:

• details of the election itself
• the date and hours of poll
• different options for voting (e.g. in a polling station, postal or proxy voting)
• the location of polling stations
• any key deadlines (e.g. deadlines for applying for postal or proxy votes)
• how to register to vote
• requirement to show an accepted form of photographic ID in order to vote in a polling station
• how to apply for a postal or proxy vote, including the requirement for ID checks
• how to return their postal vote (e.g. by post or in person at a polling station or to a council building)
• the number of postal votes that can be handed in by an individual, the restrictions on who can hand in postal votes and the requirement to complete a postal vote return form
• how to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate or Anonymous Elector's Document
• how to vote (i.e. how to mark the ballot paper)
• assistance available to electors (e.g. information for disabled voters)and how to request reasonable adjustments (e.g. equipment to enable disabled voters to vote independently in the polling station) and how to request information in alternative formats (e.g. braille, easy read, large print)
• how votes are counted
• how the result will be made known

In the lead-up to scheduled polls, the Commission may run a public awareness campaign to encourage registration. Such a campaign will usually involve mass media advertising, working with partners and public relations activities. We will also provide resources that can be used locally, such as posters, online banners, template press releases and social media content. 

The Commission provides public awareness resources to support electors in understanding the requirement for photographic ID in relevant election types. This includes resources specifically for different groups who might need greater support to provide acceptable forms of photographic ID.

The Commission will provide a suite of resources which can help you to promote information about the voting process and support available for disabled people, including resources which will signpost to guidance on accessible communications. This information is available with our guidance on Enabling and making voting easier in polling stations.

We will provide you with information on our public awareness campaigns via the EA Bulletin. We also publish a voter registration newsletter, Roll Call, which aims to help local council communications teams stay up-to-date with the latest campaign information and resources. You and your council communications team can sign up to receive the newsletter here.

The Commission also provides absent vote application forms to support electors in the postal and proxy vote application process. 

Enquiries resulting from public awareness activity

You need to consider how you will receive feedback and enquiries from both your general public awareness messaging and more focused activity such as specific assistance available for disabled electors.

While most public enquiries will be easy to manage via your contact centre or support staff you should have a clearly communicated process for reasonable adjustment requests.

Requests may include making polling station notices available in braille, easy read or in a pictorial format, or different types of equipment or support to enable a person to vote independently in a polling station such as audio devices or hearing induction loops.

Staff dealing with these types of enquiries will need to be trained to understand the barriers that voters may face, the different types of alternative formats for information that are available and the types of equipment that you provide in polling stations.

More guidance on managing requests for additional support and equipment to voters is available. 

The PARO is responsible for the nomination process at the election, and will provide the relevant nomination packs to any person who expresses an interest in standing.

As LRO you are responsible for the conduct of the poll in your voting area, i.e. your local authority area.

The PARO should ensure that information on the election process and spending is easily available for candidates and agents. You should liaise with the PARO at an early stage to understand their plans for coordinating engagement with candidates and agents and disseminating information to them so that you can reflect this in your own planning as appropriate, and can be prepared to deal with enquiries from candidates and agents at the election.

You should liaise with the PARO to determine what information on local processes they will require for sharing with candidates and agents and to agree how this information should be disseminated. The information should be provided in good time to enable candidates and agents to act on it.

Briefings and providing information on local arrangements

The PARO may also request that local briefings are provided. These briefings should cover the key election processes you are responsible for: 

• Timings and location for postal vote issue and openings
• Polling day 
• Equipment provided to polling stations that makes voting easier for disabled people
• Timing and location for the verification and count 
• handling of postal votes restrictions on the handling of postal voting documents by campaigners 
• the Code of conduct for campaigners in Great Britain 

Whatever method you agree with the PARO for disseminating the information, you should ensure that candidates and agents can easily access all the information they need in order to be able to participate in the election.

Providing written information 

You should liaise with the PARO to ensure that all candidates and election agents are issued with written guidance on the election processes, including information on local arrangements. The information should be provided in good time to enable candidates and agents to act on it. 

Local arrangements will include information on the dates, times and venues for the key election processes, including:

• postal vote issue and openings
• polling
• the verification and count

Whatever method you agree with the PARO for disseminating the information, you should ensure that candidates and agents can easily access all the information they need in order to be able to participate in the election.

Accessibility 

You should bear in mind that candidates and agents may have specific access needs, and so may need any information or guidance produced in a large-print or other format, such as Braille or audio, or in a language other than English (or, in Wales, in a language other than English or Welsh). 

If you are holding briefings locally, you should also consider that candidates and agents may have special requirements to support their attendance at briefings and you should make briefings available online or via video conference wherever possible. 

You can record your briefing and make this available online for candidates and agents to watch on demand at their convenience, with details of how they can ask any follow up questions afterwards included.

However, you will also need to consider how you will offer briefings to those who are unable to, or uncomfortable with, accessing such information online, which may require you to provide some in-person briefings. You should inform candidates and agents of your proposed approach early to assist with your planning and preparation. Those interested in receiving a briefing should be asked to register in advance so that you can track numbers as well as accessibility requirements, which will enable you to tailor your approach and put the appropriate arrangements in place.

The PARO is responsible for the nominations process at the PCC election. 

Our guidance for PAROs contains further information. 

The PARO will provide you with instructions regarding the process for candidates to request the electoral register and any absent voter lists.

Our guidance for PAROs contains further information. 
 

The PARO provides the candidates and agents with the overarching information about the key processes but will work with you regarding any local arrangements.

Our guidance for PAROs contains further information.

The PARO provides the candidates and agents with the information required for their elections spending. The PARO will ask you to provide the number of electors in your voting area for this purpose. 

Our guidance for PAROs contains further information.
 

The media plays an important role in providing information to voters on the election and it is important for your communications with media outlets and representatives to be well-planned and managed in order to maintain public confidence that the election is being well-run. 
 

To achieve this effectively, there should be a clear process for communication relating to the poll in your voting area for you and your communications team to follow when responding to any issues that arise.

Your arrangements for working with the media should include:

• dealing with general media enquiries
• strategies for dealing with both proactive communication and media liaison in relation to specific events such as the counting of votes and the declaration of results
• plans for reactive handling of any issues that arise in relation to the election, for example allegations of electoral fraud

Media attendance at the count

When developing your plan for how you will support media attendance at the count you should consider:

• any particular directions/instructions from the PARO
• contacting principal broadcast organisations in advance and outlining the press facilities available 
• providing an opportunity for media representatives to inspect the verification and count venue to see what space and facilities are available, to give them the opportunity to raise any issues or technical requirements with you so you can incorporate these into your planning for venue layout 
• discussing arrangements for the declaration of results 
• arranging for sound systems to be used for the announcements and for any live feeds
• making accreditation arrangements for journalists, technicians and photographers attending and providing media passes
• ensuring that there is a nominated media spokesperson in place for the count, and that everyone is aware who this is and that all media questions should be directed to that person
• making sure that the media are aware of any restricted areas and procedures e.g. that camera operators are aware they must not overview sensitive information (such as close-ups of ballot papers) or obstruct count staff
• ensuring that the council’s public relations team are present to deal with media enquiries. You should make sure that they know who to approach if they are asked any technical electoral questions
• explaining the processes to be followed and the expected finish and declaration times for each poll
• putting steps in place to enable you to provide media representatives with a written copy of the results at the time the announcement is made 

In order to assist you and your communications team further with media liaison at the count, we have developed some tips for managing the media at the count tips for managing the media at the count.

Observers accredited by the Commission are entitled to observe:1

• the issue and receipt of postal ballot papers
• the poll
• the verification and counting of the votes
• the calculation of the result by the PARO

Your project plan should include processes to manage potential enquiries from observers and to support their attendance at the electoral processes they are entitled to attend. This should include providing observers with information on the location and timing of the above processes.

Commission representatives are also entitled to observe these processes and, in addition, are entitled to observe your working practices.2  

Accredited observers and Commission representatives do not need to give advance notification of where they intend to observe, but will carry with them a photographic identification card issued by the Commission.

Quick guide to the observer badge types

Observer badge type	Who are they?	Access
	Electoral Commission representatives	Same as candidates and agents, plus access to the issue of postal votes, and working practices of the LRO, PARO, and ERO
	Observers accredited by the Commission	Same as candidates and agents, plus access to the issue of postal votes

If you are in doubt about the status of a particular individual seeking to gain access to election processes, you can check the registers of observers on the Commission’s website. 

You have a legal duty to have regard to the Commission’s Code of practice for observers when managing the attendance of observers.3 Observers will have agreed to comply with the standards of behaviour set out in the Commission’s Code of practice. If you think there has been a breach of the Code of practice, please inform your local Commission team.

For more information on the role of observers see our guidance for accredited electoral observers.

You are responsible for sending electors and their proxies an official poll card for the PCC election.1  Poll cards must follow the prescribed form in legislation. 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.2  

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.

Poll cards should be sent to electors and their proxies as soon as practicable after the publication of notice of election. 

If you are outsourcing the production of poll cards you will need to dispatch 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.

Further information can be found in 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 on the fifth working day before the poll. These notices support the prompt dispatch of poll cards to those electors who have applied to register close to the registration deadline.3 The first interim notice of alteration must be published on the last day for delivery of nomination papers, which is the nineteenth working day before the poll.4

If you are not also the ERO, you should liaise with them 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 the eighteenth and the sixth working day before the poll (inclusive).5  

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. 

Further information on interim notices can be found in our Electoral Registration Officer guidance for England, or Wales. 

You can also find further guidance on poll card delivery. 

As part of your planning, you will have decided whether the production of postal voting stationery and the issuing of postal votes will be carried out in-house or outsourced. 

Further guidance to support your decision-making on outsourcing can be found in our guidance on managing contractors and suppliers.

Contents of postal ballot pack

You must send a postal ballot pack to all eligible postal voters.1 Postal ballot packs must include:2  

• an outgoing envelope 
• return envelopes: envelope ‘A’ (the ballot paper envelope) and envelope ‘B’ (the covering envelope for the return of envelope ‘A’ and the postal voting statement)
• a ballot paper 
• a postal voting statement 

In addition you must issue instructional information ensuring that those entitled to vote by post are able to obtain:3  

• translations into other languages of any directions to or guidance for voters sent with the ballot paper
• a translation into Braille of such directions or guidance
• a graphical representation of such directions or guidance
• the directions or guidance in any other form (including any audible form)

You must address the outgoing envelope to the elector at the address they have asked for their ballot paper to be sent to and which is shown in the postal voters’ list or the postal proxy voters’ list.1  

To preserve the secrecy of the ballot, you must provide two separate envelopes provided for returning the ballot paper and the postal voting statement:2  

• Envelope A – this is the envelope for the return of the ballot paper, which is to be marked with the letter A, the words ‘ballot paper envelope’ and the number of the ballot paper. 
• Envelope B – this is the covering envelope for the return of the ballot paper envelope (envelope A) and the postal voting statement. It is to be marked with the letter B and your address. 

You should print the name of your voting area on all A and B envelopes. This will help to reduce instances of postal votes becoming undeliverable if, for example, a voter returns the A envelope with both the ballot paper and postal voting statement inside it, without putting it in the B envelope.

You should also consider including the ballot paper colour on postal ballot pack envelopes even where you are running a single poll, in case of any late combined poll.

Envelopes for anonymous electors

Whenever you communicate with an anonymous elector you are required to send the communication in an envelope or other form of covering in such a way that does not disclose to any other person that the voter has an anonymous entry. 

You should therefore send postal ballot packs to anonymously registered electors in a plain outgoing envelope.3 The envelope should include their name and correspondence address, but must not include their elector number or make any reference to the election or electoral register.

Postage costs

Unless you are delivering postal votes by hand, you are required to pre-pay postage on the outgoing envelope addressed to the postal voter.4  

You are also required to pre-pay postage on all return envelopes, except where postal votes have been sent to an address outside of the UK.5   

You should, however, explore with Royal Mail and the printer what you can do to facilitate the timely return of completed postal ballot packs from outside the UK, including the potential for the inclusion of appropriate pre-paid postage for items being returned from overseas. 

You could decide to use a different design of envelope for postal votes being sent to an address which is outside the UK. For example you could add a different colour flash. This may facilitate more efficient sorting, identification and prioritisation of overseas postal votes. 

Postal ballot paper

The form of the ballot paper is prescribed in legislation and you have a legal duty to follow this precisely.1 Further information can be found in our guidance on the printing of ballot papers. 

Postal voting statement 

The postal voting statement is set out in the legislation and must be produced in the prescribed form, or a form to like effect.2 The postal voting statement must include:

• the voter’s name (unless they are an anonymous elector) 
• the number of the ballot paper being issued with the statement3   
• a unique identifying mark, which could be a barcode4  but could also be in another format - this mark does not have to be connected to the unique identifying mark on the ballot paper 
• the prescribed instructions to the voter on how to vote by post5

The postal voting statement also contains space for a barcode.

You must produce different forms of the postal voting statement for anonymous electors and for those who have been granted a waiver.6  The postal voting statement for anonymous electors must not show the name of the elector.7
 
Where an elector has been granted a waiver by the ERO, you are required by legislation to omit the signature box and any reference to signing the form in the instructions to voters.8

You should also design and test the postal vote statements to ensure that the signature and date of birth fields are in the correct place and format to be able to be processed on their return by your personal identifier verification system.

Additional instructions to voters

In addition to the prescribed content of the postal ballot pack as above, you should provide additional, more specific instructions - for example, graphical instructions for voters to help them complete the statement and ballot paper and return their postal vote stationery in the correct envelopes and information on the postal vote.
 
You should include the information that you must provide to postal voters on how to obtain instructions in alternative formats e.g. alternative languages, braille, and audio.
 
As part of these instructions, you should also include information explaining that their vote is is secret and that anyone interfering with the voter marking their vote or attempting to obtain information about who they are voting for would be committing an offence. As well as information on how to report any concerns or suspected instances of electoral fraud. 

You are responsible for printing the PCC ballot papers for your voting area unless the PARO gives you notice that they will take on this responsibility.1  You should liaise with the PARO on the production of the PCC election ballot papers at an early stage.

By law, ballot papers for postal voters and for polling station use must be the same in design and size, except that the official mark may be different if desired.3   

You should ensure that you check with your print supplier at an early stage to establish the maximum size of ballot paper that they can print and, if necessary, have contingency arrangements in place in the event that a larger ballot paper is required. 

The final content of the ballot paper cannot be confirmed until nominations have closed, but you will need to make decisions about the following elements of the ballot paper specification at an early stage:

• the format of the ballot paper numbers
• the form of the reverse of the ballot paper
• the unique identifying mark
• the design of the ‘official mark’
• what colour the ballot papers will be

Once your election materials have been produced, you need to ensure that all materials have been printed, collated and prepared for despatch to electors or for use at polling stations without errors.

Checking filled postal vote packs before despatch

When carrying out quality assurance checks of filled postal ballot packs this should include checking:

• that ballot paper and PVS numbers align 
• personalised name/address information appears as expected in windows
• that each pack contains the correct items - for example check that the correct ballot papers and reply envelope have been included 

You should carry out random spot checks across all packs to ensure a representative cross-section has been checked with at least two packs from each batch of 250 packs (which is roughly the equivalent of a full Royal Mail postal ‘tray’). 

You should also ensure that there are specific checks of any fills that include additional items, such as where a by-election means an additional ballot paper is being included.

You should make sure that you keep a clear audit trail of the proofing and other quality assurance processes that have been undertaken either by your staff or by your supplier which you can refer back to should any issues subsequently arise.  

You can find more guidance to support you in this process in Quality assurance and proof checking of election materials and further guidance on quality assuring the issuing process is available in our section on absent voting. 

Checking ballot paper books before allocation

When you receive the printed ballot paper books, you should carry out a final check before any ballot papers are supplied to a polling station.

When carrying out final quality assurance checks of the printed ballot paper books, you should check that:

• the first and last ballot paper in every book and by checking that the ballot paper numbers in each book or packet run sequentially
• every detail on the ballot paper is spelt correctly
• every emblem that has been validly requested has been included beside the correct candidate and matches the party’s entry in the Commission’s register
• all candidate descriptions have been printed in the line for the correct candidate
• the voting instructions at the top of the ballot paper match the legislative requirements
• the ballot papers have been cut to the correct size
• the official mark has been included

You can find guidance on the allocation of ballot papers to polling stations in our section on polling station voting. 

Ballot paper numbers

Ballot paper numbers should run consecutively, but do not have to start at ‘1’. Ballot paper numbers should be unique, and should not be reused. For example, the polling station, postal vote and tendered ballot papers should all be numbered differently. 

Form of the reverse of the ballot paper

The form of the reverse of the ballot paper is prescribed and you must ensure that the required information is included on the ballot paper reverse in the specified format.1 There is no provision to put any hatching or other marks on the back of the ballot paper. 

Unique identifying mark (UIM)

The unique identifying mark can be made up of letters and numbers and could be a repeat of the ballot paper number with the addition of a prefix or a suffix. The unique identifying mark can instead be, but does not have to be, a barcode. It is important to remember that the unique identifying mark is not the same as the official mark. 

The unique identifying mark:2  

• should be unique for each ballot paper
• can be re-used at the next poll
• must be printed on the back of the ballot paper

The official mark

The official mark is a security mark that must be added to the ballot paper.
 
The official mark:3  

• can be the same for all ballot papers at an election or different official marks can be used for different purposes at the same election, for example one for postal votes and another for polling station ballot papers
• cannot be re-used for five years for elections to the same police area

The mark should be distinctive. It could be a printed emblem or mark or a special printing device such as a watermark. It could also be a perforation added at the time of issue of the ballot paper if stamping instruments are used to create a perforating official mark.  

The mark should be capable of being seen on the front of the ballot paper without having to turn the ballot paper over.4  

The PARO may advice or direct you to use a particular official mark or require that is contains specific features.

Ballot paper colour

The colour of ballot papers is not prescribed, but the PARO may direct you to use a particular colour.  

Tendered ballot papers are required by law to be a different colour from the ordinary ballot papers.5  

In deciding on the ballot paper colour you should take into account accessibility issues relating to colour and contrast. Where polls are combined the colours of the ballot papers for each poll must be different.

See our 'Making your mark’ good practice design guidance for more information on choosing ballot paper colours. 

The PARO will be able to confirm the candidate details which are to appear on the ballot paper after the close of nominations.

Candidates must appear on the ballot paper as listed as in the statement of persons nominated. 

Candidate name1

Candidate surnames must appear in capital letters, including the capitalisation of surnames beginning with MAC or MC and the names should follow strict alphabetisation e.g. MABBOT, MACLEAN, MATTHEWS, MCCORMICK, MORRISON.
  
Where a candidate has listed multiple names as their surname, either hyphenated or not, you should reproduce the whole name as provided. For example Dick Van Dyke would appear as VAN DYKE, Dick on the ballot paper and for alphabetisation purposes their surname would start with a V.
 
Similarly, Ann Smith-Jones would be SMITH-JONES, Ann on the ballot paper and would be listed as an S for alphabetisation purposes. 
 
In all cases, you should use the maximum possible sizes of font. To ensure consistency, the same font size should be used for each candidate on each equivalent line. 

Candidate address

The candidates address must appear in full unless they have requested not to have their home address made public. If the candidate has during the nomination process completed the home address form requesting to withhold their address the words Address in the [insert name of police area] Police Area should be printed on the ballot paper instead.

Emblems

If the candidate is standing for a registered political party and has requested the use of an emblem, you may be provided with a high-resolution copy of the emblem for use in the printing of ballot papers. Alternatively you may need to download the emblem from our website. You should ensure that whatever copy is used is in the same form as the registered emblem. 

The maximum size of an emblem on the ballot paper is two centimetres square. Do not alter or distort the shape of the emblem to fit the ballot paper. You should ensure that the emblem is in the same form as the registered emblem – for example, do not stretch emblems into square shapes if they are not registered as square images on our website, as this would have the effect of altering their appearance.

It is vital that you undertake careful and thorough checks of all draft proofs of your election materials before they are signed off and ready to be printed and dispatched. This is often a very time-consuming and time-critical stage of the process as your suppliers will be working to tight timetables and will likely give you hard deadlines.

You should decide who from your team will be involved in the checking of proofs and the quality assurance of the production process. It is possible that you will need a number of team members to play a role, and it may be helpful to involve others not as close to the raw candidate information or base proofs to ensure that nothing has been missed.

Where possible, it is helpful to ensure that more than one person checks each set of proofs before approving them to ensure that errors are spotted. This can be especially helpful in mitigating the risk of errors being made when turning around a large number of proofs in a short timeframe. 

You can carry out checks in person by attending the premises of your supplier and accessing your printed material directly, though some suppliers may offer to conduct these checks for you as part of their service instead. 

Where you are using suppliers to conduct checks, you must ensure that you get a detailed breakdown of what print quality checks are being undertaken. These should include:

• checking that the printed material is accurate by checking against a specimen copy of the final signed off live proof for each version of the material  
• where necessary, checking that all personalised text has been printed correctly

Alternatively, you may have materials sent to you for checking before they are despatched from your premises. 

You should produce guidance notes for those members of staff checking election materials.

Checking base text

You should ensure that you check the base text of all material carefully; this is the text that will not change, regardless of contest, number or details of candidates, or elector information. 

For efficiency, some suppliers may produce your proofs from templates used for previous polls. Do not presume that the information output by your electoral software management system will automatically be correct. For example, there may have been legislative or boundary changes, or changes to your contact information. It is your responsibility to check that all the information is accurate and also that the election materials comply with all legislative requirements.  

Checking live proofs

You should have in place a process for checking live proofs of all forms of election material at the print stage to check that there are no errors and that they are being printed to the required specification. 

This should include items that have smaller print runs too, such as tendered ballot papers, postal proxies or additional postal vote print runs to include those who applied after the initial data files were provided. 

You need to decide how many items will be checked for each item/print-run/fill. As a minimum, for print checks, at least the first and last item for each version of the item should be checked to ensure that the print runs start and end as expected. 

Carrying out checks at the live proof stage will allow staff to check that the print run reflects the latest approved version of the item which will highlight if any of the signed-off proofs have been inadvertently altered, that there is no bleeding of ink, and that the print quality is good and consistent.

You are likely to have many different sets of proofs for the same item, so you should be checking that the variable text on each set of proofs has been correctly included. It is helpful to have a spreadsheet of all the variable text per version ready for checking against. This could include, for example, candidate names, address (or relevant area), descriptions and emblems.

It is important to pay particular attention to emblems as many may look similar at first glance. You should proof any spreadsheets to be used for quality assurance purposes against original data, such as nomination papers.
 
You should keep a record of stationery that has been checked to provide a clear audit trail of the processes that have been undertaken and which you can refer back to should any issues subsequently arise.

When producing guidance to support your staff with proof checking election materials particular attention should be paid to checking that:

• every detail on all printing materials is spelt correctly
• electors’ names and addresses are accurate and match those on the electoral register / absent voting lists
• materials being sent to electors are the correct ones for them, for example postal proxies are being sent postal proxy poll cards
• where relevant, the correct deadlines appear (for example, for postal/proxy applications on poll cards)
• where a form is prescribed, that it meets the prescribed requirements 

 For the ballot paper, you should also check that: 

• the directions for printing have been followed precisely
• the official mark and unique identifying mark are correctly printed
• the ballot paper includes the details of all validly nominated candidates for the police area; as part of this you should check that:
  • all candidate names (or commonly used name(s) where relevant) are correct
  • all addresses or relevant areas are correct
  • where relevant, party names, descriptions and emblems are correct and as registered on the Commission’s register of political parties
  • the instructions at the top of each ballot paper match the legislative requirements

For the postal voting statement, you should also check that: 

• the correct ballot paper numbers are printed 
• the correct voting instructions for the electoral area are included

Once your election materials have been produced, you need to ensure that all materials have been printed, collated and prepared for despatch to electors or for use at polling stations without errors.

Checking filled postal vote packs before despatch

When carrying out quality assurance checks of filled postal ballot packs this should include checking:

• that ballot paper and PVS numbers align 
• personalised name/address information appears as expected in windows
• that each pack contains the correct items - for example check that the correct ballot papers and reply envelope have been included 

You should carry out random spot checks across all packs to ensure a representative cross-section has been checked with at least two packs from each batch of 250 packs (which is roughly the equivalent of a full Royal Mail postal ‘tray’). 

You should also ensure that there are specific checks of any fills that include additional items, such as where a by-election means an additional ballot paper is being included.

You should make sure that you keep a clear audit trail of the proofing and other quality assurance processes that have been undertaken either by your staff or by your supplier which you can refer back to should any issues subsequently arise.  

You can find more guidance to support you in this process in Quality assurance and proof checking of election materials and further guidance on quality assuring the issuing process is available in our section on absent voting. 

Checking ballot paper books before allocation

When you receive the printed ballot paper books, you should carry out a final check before any ballot papers are supplied to a polling station.

When carrying out final quality assurance checks of the printed ballot paper books, you should check that:

• the first and last ballot paper in every book and by checking that the ballot paper numbers in each book or packet run sequentially
• every detail on the ballot paper is spelt correctly
• every emblem that has been validly requested has been included beside the correct candidate and matches the party’s entry in the Commission’s register
• all candidate descriptions have been printed in the line for the correct candidate
• the voting instructions at the top of the ballot paper match the legislative requirements
• the ballot papers have been cut to the correct size
• the official mark has been included

You can find guidance on the allocation of ballot papers to polling stations in our section on polling station voting. 

This section of the guidance covers the statutory actions that must take place to enable the election timetable to formally commence.

This includes: 

• the publication of the notice of election 
• the requirement to deliver poll cards as soon as is practicable after the notice of election is published

We have published a non-date specific timetable:

A date-specific timetable will be available on our website ahead of scheduled polls.

The Police Area Returning Officer (PARO) must publish the notice of election by no later than twenty-five working days before the poll.1

The PARO must prepare and send to you a copy of the notice of election, which you must publish locally in the voting area.2

You must send out poll cards as soon as practicable after the publication of the notice of election.1   

Where poll cards are combined, they can only be issued once the notices of election for all elections have been published.

A poll card must be sent to the elector’s qualifying address or, in the case of a proxy, to the proxy’s address as shown in the list of proxies.2

An anonymous elector’s poll card must be sent in a covering envelope to the elector’s qualifying address.3

In order to ensure that voters receive the information they need and within time for them to cast their vote you should ensure that poll cards can be received by voters as soon as possible, so that they have the maximum amount of time to change their registration details or apply for an absent vote.

You will need to determine the optimum distribution date for poll cards and should focus on when electors can expect to receive poll cards. 

Poll cards may be delivered by hand or by post, or by some other method determined by you are the most appropriate. 

Delivery by hand 

If you deliver poll cards by hand you should plan for how this will work in practice. You should appoint sufficient staff to ensure that voters receive poll cards as soon as possible to maximise the time they have to change registration details or apply for an absent vote. You should clearly set out in your instructions to staff the last day by which you would expect all poll cards to have been delivered.

You should ensure that staff are aware of data protection considerations, and should consider requiring staff to confirm in writing at the point of recruitment, that they will abide by your data protection policy.

You should monitor delivery, to ensure that poll cards have been delivered across the whole of the voting area and to agreed timeframes. This may include requiring delivery staff to fill in log sheets and having supervisors carry out spot-checks.

Delivery by post

You may use Royal Mail or any other commercial delivery firm for the delivery of poll cards. If you deliver poll cards by post, you should liaise with your postal services provider to agree timescales for delivery and obtain any proof of postage that the firm provides.

You should monitor the delivery of poll cards, to ensure that they have been delivered across the whole of the voting area and to agreed timeframes. If possible, you should have arrangements in place to track deliveries to assist with responding to any enquiries from electors. 

Your contingency planning should address how you would issue any poll cards, in the event that Royal Mail or the commercial delivery firm you have contracted are unable to deliver the poll cards, for example, due to industrial action.

Nominations

The Police Area Returning Officer (PARO) is responsible for the nominations process at the Police and Crime Commissioner election.

After the close of nominations you must publish a  notice of situation of polling stations.1   

The PARO must publish the statement of persons nominated and notice of poll. The PARO will share these with you.

The PARO must publish the statement of persons nominated for the police area by 4pm, eighteen working days before the poll. 

The PARO must prepare and send to you a copy of the statement of persons nominated as soon as it has been published, which you must publish in the voting area as soon as practicable after receiving it.

If the PCC election is contested, the PARO must publish a  notice of poll for the police area by no later than the sixth working day before poll. 

The PARO should provide you with a copy of the notice which you can then publish locally in your voting area. You should also either provide a link from your website to the PARO’s website where the notice is published or provide a copy directly on your website so that electors in the voting area can easily access it. 

As local RO, you are responsible for publishing the notice of situation of polling stations. 

You must no later than 6 working days before polling day, prepare and publish a notice setting out:1  

• the situation of each polling station in the voting area
• the description of voters entitled to vote there

You should have robust proof-checking processes in place to ensure that there are no errors on the notice of situation of polling stations.  

You must give a copy of the notice of situation of polling stations and descriptions of voters entitled to vote there to all election agents as soon as practicable after giving the notice.

You should liaise with the PARO on how the provision of the notice of situation of polling stations to agents and sub-agents should be managed in practice, including whether the notices for all voting areas in the police area will be disseminated centrally by the PARO.

You should be prepared to make these notices available to any accredited observers on request.

Each candidate must have an election agent and notice of the appointment must be delivered to the PARO by the latest time for delivery of notices of withdrawal, which is 4pm on the nineteenth working day before the poll.1

Upon notification of an election agent’s name and address, the PARO must publish a notice setting out those details and the name of the candidate as soon as possible. 

The PARO will provide you, as LRO, with a copy of the notice and you must publish that within the voting area.2

The PARO must update and republish the notice if any agent’s appointment is revoked, or an agent dies. When this happens the PARO must provide you with a copy of the updated notice, and you must republish the notice of election agents in your voting area.3  

Election agents may appoint sub-agents to act for them in any part of the police area. 

Notification of any sub-agent appointment must be made to the PARO by the fifth working day before the poll.1  

Upon notification of a sub-agent’s name and address, the PARO must publish a notice setting out those details, the name of the candidate, and the part of the police area within which the sub-agent is appointed to act, as soon as possible.  

The PARO will provide you, as LRO, with a copy of the notice and you must publish that within your voting area.  

The PARO must update and republish the notice if any sub agent’s appointment is revoked, or an agent dies. When this happens the PARO must provide you with a copy of the updated notice, and you must republish the notice of election agents in your voting area.2  

Candidates, or their election agent, can appoint agents to observe the opening of postal votes, the conduct of the poll at polling stations and the verification and count of votes.1

You are responsible for receiving the notifications of appointment of these agents and must ensure that all appointed agents are given a copy of the relevant secrecy requirements for the opening of postal votes, the poll and the count.2  

Postal voting agents are permitted by law to observe the opening of the postal voters’ ballot box, the opening of returned postal votes and the checking of signatures and dates of birth provided on returned postal voting statements.1  

You must give candidates at least 48 hours’ notice of the time and place of any postal vote opening session and the number of agents that may be appointed to attend each opening.2

You must be given written notice of the name and address of any postal voting agents before the start of any particular session that the agents are seeking to attend.3 The Commission has developed the following form for the notification of appointment of postal voting agents.

Secrecy and conduct requirements

Ballot papers will be kept face down throughout a postal vote opening session. 

You should supply all postal voting agents with the requirements of secrecy for the opening of postal votes.

The key points are that: 

• anyone attending an opening session must not attempt to see how individual ballot papers have been marked. It follows therefore that keeping a tally of how ballot papers have been marked is not allowed. 
• anyone attending a postal vote opening must not attempt to look at identifying marks or numbers on ballot papers, disclose how any particular ballot paper has been marked or pass on any such information gained from the session.
• anyone found guilty of breaching these requirements can face an unlimited fine, or may be imprisoned for up to six months

Polling agents1 are entitled by law to access polling stations for the purpose of detecting personation.2 They can also observe the procedures to be followed inside a polling station. 

You must be notified in writing of any polling agents that have been appointed by not later than five working days before the poll3 for their appointment to be in force for the poll. The Commission has developed the following form for the notification of appointment of a polling agent.  

A polling agent can be appointed to a particular polling station or stations, or to all polling stations within the voting area. The same polling agents may be appointed to attend more than one polling station. 

Limiting the number of agents in attendance 

The total number that may attend at any particular polling station is four or such greater number that you decide to allow.4 The limit applies to each individual polling station, even where there are multiple polling stations in the same building or room.

If you decide to allow more than four polling agents to attend a polling station, you must give notice of that higher number.5 This notice should be published on your website and a copy provided to the candidates and their election agents. A copy of the notice should also be given to the PARO. You can decide to fix different maximum numbers for different polling stations and, if you do so, you should make this clear on the notice you publish. 

If all the candidates together appoint more than the maximum number of polling agents who can attend any polling station you must decide which polling agents may attend by drawing lots for each polling station. Those who are not selected by the lot are not appointed as polling agents for that particular polling station.

Only one polling agent for each candidate may be admitted to a polling station at any particular time.

Secrecy and conduct requirements

Anyone attending a polling station has a duty to maintain the secrecy of the ballot. You should supply all Polling Agents with the following requirements of secrecy for the poll.

In particular, the following information must not be disclosed:

• the name or electoral number of who has or has not voted 
• the number or other unique identifying mark on the ballot paper 

Anyone attending a polling station must also not try to ascertain how a voter has voted or who they are about to vote for. 

A polling agent can mark off on their copy of the register of electors those voters who have applied for ballot papers. If the polling agent leaves the polling station during the hours of polling, they will need to leave the marked copy of the register in the polling station to ensure that secrecy requirements are not breached. Any person found guilty of breaching the secrecy requirements can face an unlimited fine, or may be imprisoned for up to six months. 

Polling agents’ seals cannot be attached to ballot boxes at the start of or during the poll. 

While a polling agent can observe the poll, they do not have to be present in a polling station for polling and related procedures to take place.

Counting agents1 can be appointed to observe the verification and counting processes.  You must give counting agents who have been appointed notice in writing of the time and place at which the verification and count will begin.2  

You must be notified in writing of the appointment of counting agents by not later than five  working days before the poll for their appointment to be in force for the verification and count.3

Only one of the counting agents for each candidate can be designated to be able to request a recount at the conclusion of the count or any recount.4 Such designations must be made at the time that the counting agent appointment is notified to you.5 The Commission’s form for the notification of the appointment of counting agents makes provision for any such designation to be indicated on the form.

The Commission has developed the following form for the notification of appointment of a counting agents.

Limiting the number of agents in attendance

You are permitted by law to limit the number of counting agents appointed.6 The number that may be appointed by each candidate must be the same and, unless there are special circumstances, must not be less than the number obtained by dividing the number of counting assistants (i.e. those staff counting the ballot papers) by the number of candidates.4 When determining the maximum number of counting agents, each candidate should, as far as possible, be permitted to appoint sufficient numbers of counting agents to enable full and proper scrutiny of the verification and count processes. You should, however, consider any health and safety implications, including fire regulations for the verification and count venue, when deciding on maximum numbers of counting agents.  

When determining the maximum number of counting agents you should also bear in mind that the counting agents for all polls being verified are entitled to attend the verification part of the count. 

For more details on who may attend the verification and count, see Attendance at the verification and count. 

Secrecy and conduct requirements

Anyone attending the count has a duty to maintain the secrecy of the count. All Polling Agents should be supplied with the following requirements of secrecy for the count.

In particular, anyone attending must not: 

• ascertain or attempt to ascertain the number or other unique identifying mark on the back of any ballot paper 
• communicate any information obtained at the count as to the candidate for whom any vote is given on any particular ballot paper

You must issue postal votes to electors as soon as is practicable.1  In practice, this means any time after the details to be printed on the ballot papers have been confirmed, i.e. after the deadline for withdrawals, which is 4pm on the last day for the delivery of nomination papers.2

The early dispatch will maximise the time available for electors – especially service voters and those who have requested that their postal ballot pack is sent to an overseas address – to receive, complete and return their postal vote. You can find more information in our guidance: Issuing and distributing postal votes.

You many only issue a postal vote to someone who has been added to the electoral register and has made a successful application for a postal vote. The ERO is required to publish two interim election notices of alteration before publishing the final election notice of alteration on the fifth working day before the poll.3 This supports the dispatch of postal votes at an early stage in the timetable to those electors who have applied to register close to the registration deadline. More information is available in our guidance for EROs in England and Wales. 

If you are not also the ERO, you should liaise with them to obtain the postal voters’ list and the postal proxy voters’ list as soon as possible after the publication of the first interim election notice of alteration to include these electors in the initial dispatch of postal votes.4 This notice must be published on the day of the deadline for nominations.5

You will also need to liaise with the ERO to obtain any subsequent updates once the second interim election notice of alteration and the final election notice of alteration have been published. 

You can find further information on interim notices of alteration in our guidance for EROs in England and Wales.

Our template election timetables for PCC elections also include the relevant dates for these notices:

Deadlines for absent voting applications and requests to change existing arrangements 

The deadline for electors to submit new postal and postal proxy applications is 5pm, 11 working days before polling day.6 This is also the deadline:7

• to cancel existing postal votes
• for electors to make changes (i.e, amending the delivery address) to existing absent vote (i.e. postal, proxy and postal proxy) arrangements

If, however, an elector is an existing postal voter and has already returned their postal ballot paper, they cannot make changes after that time, even if this is before 5pm, 11 working days before polling day.8  

The deadline for new proxy applications (not postal proxy), excluding emergency proxy applications, is 5pm, 6 working days before polling day.9

The deadline for emergency proxy applications is 5pm on polling day.10 You can find more information in our guidance: voting by emergency proxy. 

This table summarises the deadlines for easy reference:

The ERO will provide you with the final absent voters’ lists, i.e., the postal voters list, the postal proxy voters list and the list of proxies, after the deadline for applications has passed. 

Where a completed registration application is made by the deadline but the applicant’s identity cannot be verified against DWP records or through local data matching, the ERO has until the determination deadline, which is six working days before the poll to receive the required evidence from the applicant under the exceptions process and make a determination.

Where the applicant has also applied for an absent vote by the relevant absent vote deadline, the absent vote application also requires verification of identity and where identity cannot be verified against DWP records, the ERO has up to and including polling day to receive the required evidence or necessary attestation from the applicant and make a determination. 

An absent vote cannot be granted until both the registration and absent vote applications have been positively determined. The postal vote will then need to be dispatched, and the voter will need to receive, complete and return their postal vote by 10pm on polling day.

The deadline for making changes to existing absent vote arrangements, or cancelling an existing postal vote, is 5pm, 11 working days before the poll.

A person who is sent their postal vote early in the election timetable may receive it before this date, but subsequently decide they no longer wish to vote by post. They are still able to make changes to their absent voting arrangements to take effect at the election as long as their request is received by the deadline and they have not yet returned their postal ballot paper. You will need to have a system in place that will allow you to promptly identify if a postal ballot paper has already been returned.
 
An elector who has  already returned their completed postal ballot paper can still make a request to make changes to their absent voting arrangements but these changes will not take place until any future poll .

The exception to this is where the ballot paper has been returned as spoilt or lost before the deadline for changes has passed.

If the ballot paper has been returned as spoilt or lost before the deadline for changes has passed, then the elector may still make changes to the absent vote arrangements for the poll at which the ballot paper was issued.

This is also the case for an elector voting by proxy, where their proxy has a postal vote and has already voted on behalf of the elector by returning their completed postal vote.1

It is the return of any postal ballot paper that is relevant in determining whether or not an elector can make changes to their postal voting arrangements to take effect at the elections. 

The ERO will administer the changes to any absent vote arrangements, and they must notify you in time to take effect at the election, whenever they have granted:2

• a postal vote cancellation
• a change from postal to proxy
• a change from proxy to postal
• an application for a postal ballot paper to be sent to a different address
• a cancellation of a proxy appointment

You should let the ERO know when postal ballot papers are dispatched  and the final deadline for cancellations and changes, and liaise with them to decide how any requests for changes to absent voting arrangements and information on returned postal ballot papers will be exchanged, so that:

• the ERO can check  if a postal ballot paper has been returned
• the ERO knows whether or not they can allow a request for changes or a cancellation to take effect in time for the election
• you can cancel the postal ballot paper if the request has been allowed.

You will need to retrieve any ballot papers that have been received before the absent vote deadline and subsequently cancelled by the elector. You can find more information in our guidance on the retrieval of cancelled postal votes. 

Proxy vote applications require verification of identity. Where identity cannot be verified against DWP records, the ERO has up to and including polling day to receive the required evidence or necessary attestation from the applicant and make a determination.

Information about applications to 1 appoint a proxy made by an applicant for a person to vote on their behalf1 that are made by 5pm, six working days before polling day will be provided to you by the ERO once those applications have had been through identity verification and been determined.

You may need to make an alteration to the printed register if a proxy has applied to vote by post and the application is determined close to the poll. Our guidance on Polling station registers and absent voting lists has more information on alterations that may be made to the register after they have been printed. The polling station register must be marked with an ‘A’ against the name of the elector, as any elector who has appointed a proxy and their proxy has applied to vote by post can no longer vote in the polling station.4 A separate list will contain the details of postal proxies.3

Restrictions on proxy voting

A person may not have more than one appointed proxy at any time.5

A person is not entitled to vote as proxy at the same PCC election in any PCC voting area on behalf of more than four electors (of which no more than two electors can be domestic electors).6

It is an offence:

• for a person to knowingly appoint a proxy who is already acting as a proxy for two or more domestic electors7   
• for a person who is registered as a service voter to knowingly appoint a proxy who is already acting as a proxy for four or more electors (of which no more than two electors can be domestic electors)8   
• to vote as proxy for more than two domestic electors9   
• to vote as proxy for more than four electors (of which no more than two electors can be domestic electors)10

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.  

An elector may find that they are unable to go to the polling station after the deadline for arranging an ordinary proxy has passed. An elector may appoint an emergency proxy to vote on their behalf at the polling station in certain circumstances:1

• in the case of a disability (whether a medical condition, illness or otherwise) arising after the deadline for ordinary proxy applications (i.e. after 5pm on the sixth working day before the poll)
• if they are a mental health patient detained under civil powers (i.e., who are not also detained offenders)
• if their occupation, service or employment means they cannot go to the polling station in person, provided that they only become aware of this fact after the deadline for ordinary proxy applications (i.e. 5pm on the sixth working day before the poll)
• if they meet any of the conditions relating to emergency proxies on the grounds of voter identification after the deadline to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate or Anonymous Elector’s Document (i.e. 5pm on the sixth working day before the poll). Further information can be found in our guidance for EROs in England and Wales

Electors can apply for an emergency proxy after the deadline for normal proxy applications has passed (i.e. after 5pm on the sixth working day before the poll) up until 5pm on polling day. If you are not also the ERO, you should agree a method with them for communicating any additions to the list of proxies that result from the granting of emergency proxy applications.

There is no requirement for someone appointed as an emergency proxy to provide any documentation in order to be permitted to vote at the polling station. Whenever an emergency proxy has been appointed, you should inform the appropriate polling station staff as soon as possible after the proxy has been appointed, and by any means available to you.

Wherever possible, however, 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 when they go to vote 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 ERO should also, where possible, provide a supplementary list of proxies which can be issued to the relevant polling station and added to the list originally supplied.

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 emergency proxy applications granted on polling day and should advise them of the procedures to be followed. You can find more information in our guidance on emergency proxies in England and Wales.

Who must be sent a postal vote?

You must send a postal vote to:1

• any elector who appears on the postal voters’ list for the election 
• any proxy who appears on the postal proxy voters’ list for the election

Timing of the issuing of postal votes

Postal votes must be issued as soon as practicable.2

You should put arrangements in place to ensure that electors receive their postal ballot papers as soon as possible and prioritise any postal votes that may need to be sent overseas in order to maximise the time that postal voters have to receive, complete and return their postal vote.

Existing electors with existing postal voting arrangements

Once the deadline for the withdrawal of candidates has passed, postal ballot papers should be issued to existing electors who have successfully applied for a postal vote.

Existing electors who make new postal applications

You should liaise with the ERO (where you are not already the ERO) to ensure you obtain the information on any electors who later apply for a postal vote by the relevant absent vote deadline. Where the applicant has applied for an absent vote by the relevant absent vote deadline, the absent vote application requires verification of identity and where identity cannot be verified against DWP records, the ERO has up to and including polling day to receive the required evidence or necessary attestation from the applicant and make a determination. As an absent vote cannot be granted until the absent vote application has been positively determined so you should also liaise with the ERO (where you are not already the ERO) to plan how you will coordinate the determination and subsequent issuing of the postal packs for a poll.

New electors who made postal vote applications alongside their registration application

Both the registration and absent vote application requires verification of identity and an absent vote cannot be granted until both the registration and absent vote applications have been positively determined. The ERO must publish two interim election notices of alteration  before publishing the final election notice of alteration on the fifth working day before the poll.3  You should also liaise with the ERO (where you are not already the ERO) to plan how you will coordinate the determination and subsequent issuing of the postal packs for a poll.

You can find further information on interim notices of alteration in our guidance for EROs in England and Wales.

You should liaise closely with the ERO (where you are not also the ERO) to: 

• plan how you will coordinate the determination of applications and subsequent issuing of postal packs
• monitor the volume of applications that are not matched with DWP on the ERO Portal in the run up to the postal vote application deadline
• agree messaging to explain that until evidence to verify an applicant’s identity is received, their postal vote pack cannot be produced which could mean they may not be able to receive, complete and return their postal vote by polling day
• agree that, if before the deadline for appointing a proxy, the elector will be contacted to explain that a proxy vote may be an alternative option but the applicant’s identity will still need to be verified. 

You will also need to consider any particular arrangements you need to put in place to: 

• manage the production of additional postal ballot packs close to polling day
• manage the delivery or collection of additional postal votes close to polling day
• support electors in returning their completed postal votes by 10pm on polling day 

You should have regular check-ins with your ERO to track the volume of applications in the run up to the postal vote application deadline that fail the DWP match, so that you are prepared for potential numbers of postal ballot packs to be produced at short notice – whether that is happening in house or outsourced. 

If production of postal voting stationery and the issuing of postal votes will be carried out in-house ensure that you order sufficient blank postal packs to enable the issue of packs at short notice in the run up to polling day. 

If production of postal voting stationery is outsourced, you will need to be satisfied that the production of the postal voting stationery and the issue will be carried out in a timeframe is sufficient for a postal voter to receive, complete and return their postal vote before the close of poll. If you are not satisfied that this can be done, you should consider the practicability of producing postal ballot packs in house. 

Our guidance on Subsequent issues of postal ballot packs has more information. 

Given that the processing of postal vote applications and issuing of postal ballot packs may take longer because of the requirement to verify the elector’s identity, specific messaging to electors who apply close to the deadline may be needed to explain that they may not receive their postal vote in time for the election. If before the proxy application deadline, this could include messaging to support electors to consider whether a temporary proxy vote may be more suitable for their circumstances where there is a risk that they may not receive their postal vote in time to complete it, for example, if they are going away on holiday.

The processes to be followed when issuing postal ballot packs are provided for in legislation.1

Corresponding number list 

You must produce a corresponding number list at postal vote issuing sessions.2

The corresponding number list is prescribed and must contain the ballot paper number and unique identifying mark of all ballot papers to be issued to that elector.3

When the ballot paper is issued, the elector number must be marked on the corresponding number list beside the ballot paper number and unique identifying mark.4

New lists and associated packets are required at every issue. The list could be printed single-sided and cut at the point where the last ballot paper was issued at any particular issue of postal ballot packs. The remaining corresponding number list can then be used at any further issuing sessions and for the issue of replacement postal ballot papers.

The corresponding number list relating to the ballot papers that have been issued must be sealed in a packet as soon as practicable after each issue of postal ballot packs, this can only be opened and inspected by the order of a court.5

The postal ballot pack

The number of the postal ballot paper(s) must be included on the postal voting statement to be sent with the ballot paper(s).6

The address to which the postal ballot pack should be sent is the address shown in the relevant postal voters’ list.7 In the case of a postal proxy, this is the address shown in the postal proxy voters’ list.8 In the case of an anonymous elector, the address can be found in the records of granted applications.9

Our guidance on the production of postal voting stationery contains information on the content required for the postal ballot pack.

Marking the polling station registers

To indicate that an elector is entitled to vote by post and must not be given an ordinary ballot paper at a polling station, the polling station register must be marked with an ‘A’ using the information contained in the postal voters’ list and the postal proxy voters’ list.10 To indicate that an elector is entitled to vote by post and must not be given an ordinary ballot paper at a polling station, the polling station register must be marked with an ‘A’ using the information contained in the postal voters’ list and the postal proxy voters’ list. You should liaise with the ERO (where you are not also the ERO) to establish the latest practicable point for determination of applications, the process for both updating polling station registers and absent voting lists and communicating updates to polling station staff. A mark must be placed in the postal voters’ list (or the postal proxy voters’ list as the case may be) to show that a postal ballot pack has been issued.  

A mark must be placed in the postal voters’ list (or the postal proxy voters’ list as the case may be) to show that a postal ballot pack has been issued.11

You should maintain a clear audit trail of the issue of postal ballot packs. As part of this, you should ensure that the number of postal votes issued is accurately recorded at the end of each issuing session and when issuing replacement postal ballot packs. These numbers will be required for the completion of the statement as to postal ballot papers.

This table summarises the issuing process:
 

Who can attend the postal vote issuing process?

In addition to you and your staff, Commission representatives and accredited observers are entitled to attend the issuing process.12

If you have outsourced the postal vote issuing process, you should ensure that these people are able to access the premises of the company conducting the issue.

Anyone attending a postal vote issue session, including your staff, must be provided with a copy of the relevant secrecy provisions.13

If you decide to deliver postal votes by hand, you should plan for how this will work in practice. You should appoint sufficient staff to ensure that postal ballot packs are received by postal voters as soon as possible to maximise the time postal voters have to receive, complete and return their postal vote.

You should ensure that staff are aware of data protection considerations, and should consider requiring staff to confirm in writing at the point of recruitment, that they will abide by your data protection policy.

You should also have in place a mechanism for monitoring the delivery of postal ballot packs, with a view to ensuring that they have been delivered across the whole of the voting area and to agreed timeframes. This may include requiring delivery staff to fill in log sheets, having supervisors carry out spot-checks, and monitoring any unusually low returns of completed postal ballots by polling districts.

Planning for ad-hoc deliveries by hand

There may be circumstances where you will need to issue postal ballot packs by hand, even where the majority of your packs have been delivered by post, for example when replacing lost or spoilt postal ballot packs, or when issuing postal ballot packs for applications that have been determined close to or on polling day.

You should plan for how this will work in practice, including how you will ensure that these postal ballot packs can be printed and delivered at short notice. More information on managing the delivery of additional postal ballot packs close to the poll can be found in our guidance on planning for the issue of postal votes. 

As postal ballot packs must be issued as soon as practicable to electors, there may be circumstances where a person you have already sent a postal ballot paper to subsequently applies to the ERO to cancel their postal vote, or make any changes to their absent voting arrangements, within time for the changes to be able to take effect at the election(s).

However, a postal ballot paper that has already been returned to the RO cannot be cancelled.1 Our ERO guidance in England or Wales contains further information on changing or cancelling postal votes at an election.

If you are not also the ERO, you need to arrange how you will liaise with them, so that any changes to absent voting arrangements can be communicated to you in a timely manner and you know which ballot papers need to be cancelled.

Upon notification you must immediately cancel any postal ballot paper that has been issued to such an elector or postal proxy, and add the details of the cancelled ballot paper to the list kept for that purpose (see our guidance on record keeping for cancelled postal votes).2
 
You should consider how to manage the process of removal of those packs from any postal vote batches not yet despatched from your printer.

Where the change to the absent voting arrangements relates only to the address to which the ballot paper should be sent, you must, in addition to cancelling the original postal ballot paper issue a replacement postal ballot pack to the new address.3

You must also cancel any lost or spoilt postal ballot papers you have had to replace (see our guidance on re-issuing spoilt postal votes and lost/not received postal votes).4
 
You need to maintain an audit trail of all the cancellations, including how your software system can be used to log all cancellations to enable you to produce the required list of cancelled postal ballot papers (see our guidance on record keeping for cancelled ballot papers) and identify any postal ballot papers that have been cancelled but have been returned and so need to be retrieved.

As part of your planning, you will need to identify the number of postal vote opening sessions that you think you will require and when these should be held, and make arrangements for these as necessary.

The number of postal vote opening sessions you will require will depend largely on the total number of postal voters that you have and your estimated turnout of postal voters. For more considerations see our guidance on planning for the delivery of key processes.

Your first opening session should be held within a couple of days of your first issue. Even if you have not received a high number of returned postal votes by then, you should still conduct a session at that time and take the opportunity to test your equipment and assess your workflows under real conditions.
 
After this first session you should gauge whether your estimate of the number of postal vote opening sessions required is sufficient or whether you will need to revise it.
 
Nothing prevents the opening of postal votes being carried out on a Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday, and indeed you may wish to consider doing so, particularly if it’s apparent you will need additional postal vote opening sessions.

You must give each candidate at least 48 hours’ notice, in writing, of the time and location of each opening session and of the maximum number of postal voting agents that may be appointed to attend the opening of postal votes.1

You should also plan for when you will open the packets of rejected postal votes delivered to you by hand at a polling station or council office.  Although candidates and agents have no right to object to a postal vote that has been rejected to you at a polling station or council office, opening as soon as practicable will ensure that the record of postal votes that were rejected when handed in is as up to date as possible.    

Who can attend the opening of postal votes?

The following people are entitled to attend the opening of postal votes:2  

• you and your staff
• the Police Area Returning Officer and their staff
• candidates
• election agents
• sub-agents
• postal voting agents
• Commission representatives
• accredited observers

The postal vote opening process should be transparent and all those entitled to attend should be able to clearly view the whole process. You could hand out copies of your layout plan to assist those present to follow what is happening, where and when.
 
You should provide anyone attending the postal vote opening with information on the processes you are going to follow. This can be a verbal explanation or through the provision of written guidance notes.
 
You should inform candidates, election agents and postal voting agents of the process to be followed should they wish to object to the rejection of a postal voting statement. More information on the process for managing this can be found in our guidance: checking personal identifiers.
 
Everyone attending a postal vote opening session, including your staff working at the session, must:

• be provided with a copy of the secrecy requirements3
• maintain the secrecy of voting

You must take proper precautions for preventing any person from seeing the votes made on the ballot papers. Throughout the opening sessions you must keep the ballot papers face down.4 There may be occasions when the front of a ballot paper becomes visible. It is an offence for anyone to:

• attempt to find out the candidate(s) for whom any vote is given on any particular ballot paper
• communicate any such information obtained at those proceedings5

Equipment for opening of postal votes

You should consider what other equipment you will require at the opening of postal votes, and ensure that it is in place and tested in advance. This should include:

• scanners
• extension leads
• printer
• projector and screen
• laptop
• rejected stamp and pad
• assorted stationery

You must have received a postal ballot pack by the close of poll via the post or having been handed in at a polling station or council offices in the voting area, for it to be treated as duly returned.1

For a definition of voting area, see our guidance on Local Returning Officer appointment. 

You should confirm the arrangements for the return of postal votes and any final sweeps to be carried out on polling day with Royal Mail. 

If a person is delivering their postal vote to a polling station and they are in a queue at the polling station at 10pm on polling day they must still be permitted to return a postal ballot pack.2

Secure storage of returned postal ballots

Returned postal ballots should be stored securely at all times. This includes when they are transported to any postal vote opening session and to the verification and count venues.3 For more information see our guidance on ensuring the security of ballot papers.

All postal votes returned to you, either at your office or at a polling station on polling day, must be stored in appropriate receptacles. You have a legal duty to take proper precautions for the safe custody of these receptacles.

The methods of storage and transportation you choose should allow you to be satisfied that the returned postal ballot papers are kept securely and cannot be interfered with. 

Postal ballot boxes and receptacles for returned postal votes

You must have two types of ballot boxes for securely storing returned postal votes: 

• the postal voters’ ballot box(es) 
• the postal ballot box(es)4

At each opening session, you must also provide receptacles for the following:

• rejected votes 
• postal voting statements 
• ballot paper envelopes
• rejected ballot paper envelopes

You are also required to have a copy of the postal voters’ list and the postal proxy voters’ list so that entries can be marked when postal voting statements are returned.5

Postal voters’ ballot box

The postal voters’ ballot box is used to store returned postal votes while they await opening.

Any postal ballot papers, postal voting statements or ballot paper envelopes that are not received as a complete pack should also be placed in the postal voters’ ballot box.

All postal voters’ ballot boxes must be marked with the words ‘postal voters’ ballot box’ and the name of the voting area.6

You must take precautions to ensure the safe custody of the postal voters’ ballot box. You should seal the postal voters’ ballot box and store it in a place that is secure, for example a locked cupboard or room, until the next scheduled opening of postal votes.7 These precautions will ensure the security of the contents of the postal voters ballot box is maintained at all times.

Postal ballot boxes

Postal ballot boxes are used to store the postal ballot papers which have been through the opening process and are to go forward to the count.
 
All postal ballot boxes must be marked with the words ‘postal ballot box’ and the name of the voting area.8
 
All postal ballot boxes must be stored securely until the count.9 Any agents present at a postal vote opening are entitled to add their seals to postal ballot boxes if they wish.10

Packets of postal votes handed in to the polling station or to the Local Returning Officer

Any sealed packets labelled with the description - postal voting documents - contain accepted postal votes which were handed in to the polling station or to the Local Returning Officer at council offices. These packets are treated as if they were a postal voters’ ballot box and therefore should be opened as per the process provided in our guidance on Opening of postal votes. 

Any sealed packets labelled with the description - rejected postal voting documents and forms - must be included on the list of electors whose postal vote was rejected at the point it was handed in (or left behind) at a polling station or at a council office. More information is set out in our guidance on keeping a record of those postal votes that were rejected when handed into a polling station or at council offices.
 

Postal votes can be returned by hand to a polling station or to the Local Returning Officer at for example, council offices in the voting area.

There are limits to the number of postal votes that can be handed in and restrictions on who the individual handing in the limited number of postal votes can be for each poll taking place. This applies in both polling stations and council offices.

Postal votes returned to polling stations

You should emphasise to polling station staff, including polling station inspectors, the importance of maintaining at all times the security of postal votes handed in to polling stations on polling day.

To help to minimise the likelihood of receiving large quantities of postal votes at the count and help reduce the risk of delays to the start time of the count, you should arrange to collect postal votes from polling stations at various points throughout polling day.

What is the procedure for receiving postal votes handed in at the polling station?

The normal procedure to follow for postal votes being handed in is set out in the Commission’s polling station handbook.  Further guidance on dealing with postal votes returned to polling stations, dealing with queries arising from handing in postal votes, and the situations where postal votes handed in at polling stations have to be rejected can also be found in the polling station handbook.

You should supply polling station staff with sufficient packets for postal votes returned to the polling station. These packets should be clearly labelled as containing postal votes and include the name of the polling station and polling station identifier. 

Postal votes returned by hand to council offices

Information about the procedure to be followed for postal votes handed in at council offices is set out in our guidance on managing receipt of postal votes handed in at council offices.

There are limits to the number of postal votes that can be handed in and restrictions on who the individual handing in the limited number of postal votes can be for each poll taking place. These restrictions apply to all postal votes handed in to the Local Returning Officer or a person authorised to act on their behalf whether at polling stations or at locations, usually council offices, designated for that purpose by the Local Returning Officer. 

This section contains information about the normal procedure for postal votes being handed in to the Local Returning Officer at council offices. It also contains guidance about queries that may arise from handing in postal votes and situations where an authorised person has to reject postal votes that are handed in.

Anyone returning a postal vote by hand to the Local Returning Officer must complete a postal vote return form.  A postal vote returned by hand that is not accompanied by a postal vote return form will be rejected.

An authorised person must deliver to the Local Returning Officer:1  

• any postal vote that is handed in before the close of poll 
• the postal vote return form completed in respect of it 

You should:

• decide the location(s), dates and times where authorised persons will be able to receive postal votes delivered by hand
• allocate sufficient authorised people to cover the location(s), dates and times and receive any postal votes handed in - wherever possible you should provide for postal votes to handed in at council offices up to 10pm on polling day
• publicise in your communications with postal voters: 
  • the location (s), dates and times where authorised persons will be able to receive postal votes delivered by hand
  • that a postal vote return form must be completed when the postal vote is handed in
  • that postal votes can only be handed in to the Local Returning Officer or an authorised person
  • that postal votes left behind or handed in to a person who is not authorised will be rejected
• ensure that only you or a person you have authorised to act on your behalf takes hand delivery of postal votes 
• clearly signpost the location where postal votes can be handed in from the building entrance 
• ensure the route is fully accessible or provide an appropriately signposted alternative
• give details to other local authority staff, such as reception staff, of what to do if a person tries to deliver a postal vote to them and make it clear that they:
  • should not handle postal votes
  • should not offer to deliver them
  • should instead direct the person delivering the postal votes to you or the authorised person

You will need to decide how often the sealed packets of accepted and rejected postal votes will be delivered to you by the authorised person. 

You should ensure that authorised persons securely store the accepted and rejected postal votes handed securely until they are delivered to you, including where you are providing for postal votes to be handed in at council offices up to close of poll on polling day.

On the days leading up to polling day, your decision may be based on the timing of the opening of postal votes session for example. On polling day, you may decide to accept sealed packets of accepted and rejected postal votes throughout the day to ease pressure on the final opening session at the close of poll.

You should ensure that any person you authorise to act on your behalf to deliver to you any postal votes that have been handed in, should be given training on:

• the procedure to follow for postal votes being handed in
• how to assist individuals to complete the return of postal vote return form. 

The normal procedure for the authorised person to follow for postal votes being handed in is as follows:

Stage 1 – advise the individual that they will need to provide some details to return the postal votes

Explain that the postal vote return form must be completed correctly otherwise the postal votes will be rejected. 

Stage 2 –Completion of section 1 of the postal vote return form

The following information must be recorded in section 1:

• whether the individual is handing in their own postal vote (completing the Yes or No box as appropriate on the form)
• whether the individual is handing in postal votes for any other people, and if so, how many 
  • individuals can hand in postal votes for up to 5 other people 
• whether the individual is a political campaigner 
  • political campaigners can hand in postal votes for up to 5 other people as long as they are close relatives or people for whom they provide regular care

If the individual: 

• is handing in no more than the permitted number of postal votes 
• has confirmed that they are not a political campaigner or 
• has confirmed that they are a political campaigner but are handing in postal votes for close relatives or people for whom they provide regular care: 
  • the relevant boxes on the form must be completed and the total number of postal votes to be handed in recorded on the form
     

Stage 3 – Completion of section 2 of the postal vote handing in form

Ask the individual to check that the information provided in section 1 is correct and to complete the following fields of section 2:

• their name
• their address
• (if applicable) the reason for handing in postal votes for other people

The individual must read and complete the declaration, confirming that:

• they have not handed in more than the permitted number of postal votes
• they are not a political campaigner, or 
• they are a political campaigner and have only handed in their own postal vote and/or that of a close relative, or someone for whom they provide regular care

The individual must then sign and date the form.

Stage 4 – Completion of section 3 of the postal vote return form

The authorised person must complete section 3. Check that sections 1 and 2 have been completed correctly.

If satisfied that:

• the postal vote return form has been completed correctly with the required information
• the individual has only handed in as many postal votes as they are entitled to, and
• the individual is not a political campaigner, or is a political campaigner who has only submitted their own postal vote and/or postal votes of close relatives or people for whom they provide regular care

complete section 3A of the form to confirm this and accept the postal votes

Stage 5 – thank the individual and confirm that the postal votes have been accepted and will be forwarded to the Local Returning Officer

Stage 6 – Puts accepted postal votes in packet for accepted postal votes

Once accepted, place the postal vote(s) unopened, in the packet provided. 

The packet must be kept secure at all times. It must be delivered to the Local Returning Officer in accordance with their instructions. 

Stage 7 – Put completed postal vote return form in appropriate packet

The completed postal vote return form should be kept separately from the packet containing the accepted postal votes and delivered to the Local Returning Officer.  
 

There are four situations when the authorised person must reject postal vote(s) that are handed in. 

These reasons are that the individual:

• did not fully complete the postal vote return form (incomplete)1  
• handed in postal votes on behalf of more than the permitted number of electors2  
• is a campaigner not permitted to handle the postal votes3  
• did not complete the postal vote return form (left behind)4  

If any of the above reasons apply to the postal vote(s) handed in, then the authorised person must complete section 3B of the postal vote return form, ticking which of the reasons apply and the number of postal votes to be rejected.

Once rejected, the completed postal vote return form should be attached to the (bundle of) rejected postal vote(s) and placed in the packet for rejected postal votes.5

This packet should be sealed and stored securely until it is delivered to you, along with the packets of accepted postal votes, to the Local Returning Officer.6   

What if an individual does not want to complete the postal vote return form?

The authorised person should explain to the individual that the postal vote return form must be completed by law and the postal votes cannot be handed in without it. Any postal votes that are left behind without the form being completed will be rejected.7

If the individual insists on leaving the postal vote(s) without completing a form, complete section 3B of the postal vote return form, ticking the ‘did not fully complete the postal vote return form’ option, attach it to the postal vote(s) and place the bundle in the packet for rejected postal votes.

What if an individual wants to hand in postal votes for more than 5 other people

Individuals are only allowed to hand in their own postal vote and postal votes for up to 5 other people.

The individual should determine which postal votes they wish to submit. They may leave the council office to make the decision.

The individual can hand in the permitted number of postal votes and leave the council office with the remaining postal votes.

If the individual insists on handing in postal votes for more than 5 other people, all the postal votes for the other people must be rejected.  Only the individual’s own postal vote can be accepted. 

In this situation, the postal vote return form must be completed with the following information:

• in sections 1 and 2, the details of the individual and the postal vote to be handed in (if they are returning their own postal vote)
• in section 3, that the individual’s postal vote has been accepted (part 3A and part 3B), and the number and the reason for rejection of the other postal votes (part 3B)

The completed postal vote return form must be attached to the rejected postal votes and kept in the packet for rejected postal votes.  

The accepted postal vote can be placed in the packet for accepted postal votes.

The individual should not be assisted in determining which postal vote is their own.

What if an individual is not sure if they are a political campaigner? 

A political campaigner is defined within this legislation as a person who is either:8

• a candidate at the election;
• an election agent of a candidate at the election;
• a sub-agent of an election agent at the election;
• employed or engaged by a person who is a candidate at the election for the purposes of that person’s activities as a candidate;
• a member of a registered political party and carries on an activity designed to promote a particular outcome at the election;
• employed or engaged by a registered political party in connection with the party’s political activities;
• employed or engaged by a person listed above, to carry on an activity designed to promote a particular outcome at the election;
• employed or engaged by a person within paragraph above to carry on an activity designed to promote a particular outcome at the election and includes candidates, agents and party workers  

Advise should not be given as to whether someone meets this definition.  The individual can be shown the definition of a political campaigner, which is set out on the reverse of the postal vote return form, to help them determine whether they can hand in the postal vote(s).

If they are still unsure, having read the definition on the form, they should seek their own legal advice. 

What if the individual advises that they are a political campaigner (and are handing in postal votes for people who are not close relatives or people for whom they provide care)?

The campaigner should be advised that they are not allowed to hand in postal votes unless it is their own, or they are handing in postal votes for close relatives or people for whom they provide care.

If they have indicated that all of the postal votes do not belong to close relatives or someone for whom they provide care, and they insist that they want to hand them in, the authorised person should advise them that: 

• it is an offence for political campaigners to handle postal votes which are not their own, those of close relatives or those of someone for whom they provide care
• any postal votes that are handed in which belong to other people except those set out above will be rejected 
• the Local Returnign Officer will notify the police where they suspect an offence has been committed

The political campaigner should be asked to hand over the postal votes.  Details of the rejected postal votes must be recorded in section 3 of the form and attached to the rejected postal votes.

If the political campaigner refuses to hand over the postal votes and leaves the building, the authorised person should record the details and inform the Local Returning Officer.  

What to do if an individual leaves postal votes in the council offices without completing the form?

If postal votes have been left in the council council offices, the authorised person must reject the left behind postal vote(s)9  and record the details of the postal vote(s) in section 3B of the postal vote return form. The authorised person must write their name on the postal vote return form and attach it to the left behind postal vote(s).  In this situation, the postal votes are rejected as ‘did not complete a postal return form’ (left behind).  
 

You should advise the authorised person of the time, location and frequency for the delivery of the accepted postal votes handed in to them. 

The authorised person must ensure that the packets containing the accepted postal votes and the postal vote return forms are kept securely until they are delivered to you. The methods of storage and transportation of the postal votes should allow you to be satisfied that the postal ballot papers are kept securely and cannot be interfered with.

Before delivery to you, the authorised person must first make up into separate packets the accepted postal votes and the postal vote return forms, with a description of the contents written on each packet. Each packet must be sealed.1   

Delivery of rejected postal votes from council offices to the Local Returning Officer

The authorised person must seal in a separate packet any rejected postal votes and accompanying postal vote return forms2 and deliver to you.3  

Managing the receipt of postal votes delivered from council offices to the Local Returning Officer

When you receive the packets of postal votes that have been delivered by hand to council offices, you should ensure they are managed in an appropriate way. 
The packets of accepted postal votes must be stored in appropriate receptacles. Our guidance on Return and receipt of postal votes has more information about secure storage of returned postal votes. 

You are required to keep a record of postal votes that were rejected when handed in at a council office. Our guidance on Preparing a record of those postal votes that were rejected when handed in has more information about keeping this list. You should ensure that these packets are stored securely until you opened the packets to compile the list.  

You should ensure that the packets of postal vote return forms for accepted postal votes are stored securely until they are forwarded on to the ERO. Our guidance on Responsibility for sealing and retaining election documents has more information.
 

Keeping accurate records at the receipt and opening of postal votes is key to maintaining a clear audit trail.
 
You are required to complete a statement as to postal ballot papers for the voting area1  and the records you keep will be essential for ensuring that the statement is complete and accurate.

You should ensure that all of the figures required for the statement are accurately recorded during the receipt, opening and verification of postal votes. You should:

• maintain a clear audit trail of the receipt and opening of postal ballot packs 
• record the total number of envelopes received
• record the number of envelopes counted 
• ensure that all of the figures required for completion of the statement as to postal ballot papers are accurately recorded
• keep a record of the total number of envelopes received at your office and placed in a postal voters’ ballot box for audit purposes to check against the number of envelopes counted at opening
• complete a postal ballot paper account for every postal ballot box – we have provided a template
• prepare a list recording:
  • the total number of postal votes placed in each box
  • the total number of  postal voters’ ballot boxes
• batch ballot papers in a way that ensures you are able to retrieve and cancel a particular ballot paper if required – for example, if you have to re-issue following a procedural error

For information on keeping a record of postal voting statements that have gone through the opening process and have been rejected, see our guidance on checking the personal identifiers.

You must check the identifiers on all returned postal voting statements.1

If you have delegated authority to another person to make decisions on postal voting statements at the verification of postal vote identifiers, you should provide them with a copy of the following Commission and Forensic Science Service guidance on signature checking, and instruct them to follow it.

These tables are a guide to making decisions on whether to accept or reject a returned postal voting statement.

When to accept a returned postal vote statement:

When to reject a returned postal vote statement:

Your decision on determining a postal voting statement does not have to be based only on the information on the postal voting statement and personal identifiers record. 

When making your decision, you may refer to other sources, for example, the signature provided on a registration form, or consider any additional information you have. For example, an elector may contact you to say that they have broken their arm since supplying their identifiers to the ERO and are unable to replicate their normal signature.

You may decide to accept their postal voting statement as valid if you are satisfied that this is the case, even if it has a signature that looks different to the one on the personal identifiers record.

Every decision on a postal voting statement should be taken on an individual basis.

Complete absence of a signature (where the elector has not been granted a waiver) or a date of birth must always lead to a rejection.2

In determining the validity of the postal voting statement, neither the signature nor the date of birth is more important than the other – both must be provided (unless the signature has not been provided and the elector has been granted a waiver), and both must match.3

Candidates, election agents and postal voting agents may object to the rejection of a postal voting statement.4 If they object to a rejection, you must mark the postal voting statement ‘rejection objected to’ before attaching it to the ballot paper envelope and placing it in the receptacle for rejected votes.
 
Accredited observers and representatives of the Commission have no right to object to the rejection of a postal voting statement.

Sometimes, you may find that electors have cut or torn their completed postal ballot paper. You will need to decide whether the returned extract is a valid ballot paper. 

There are various scenarios that may arise:

In order to avoid any potential delay to the verification and count process(es), you should keep to a minimum the number of postal votes that have to be opened during the verification and count. You should ensure that any packets of accepted postal votes that have been handed in at polling stations or to council offices are delivered to you as soon as practicable.

You must ensure that the opening of postal votes, whether taking place at the verification and count or somewhere else, is carried out in full view of any candidates, agents and observers present.1

As with all other opening sessions, you are required to provide notice of the time and place of the final postal vote opening session.2

Following the completion of the final opening of postal votes, you are required to securely seal and store various receptacles and documents. You can find further information on this in our guidance: Ensuring the security of ballot papers and other materials. 

Keeping a record of incomplete postal ballot packs returned

You will have kept two lists of provisionally rejected postal ballot papers throughout the opening process:3  

• one to record the ballot paper number of any postal ballot paper that has been returned without a postal voting statement 
• a second to record the ballot paper number on any postal voting statement that was not returned with the postal ballot paper

After the last opening session, these will become:

• the final list of ballot papers with no valid postal voting statement received, and 
• the final list of valid postal voting statements received without some or all of the ballot papers 

After an election, EROs are required to notify postal voters if their postal vote has been rejected as a result of failing the personal identifier checks and to inform them of the specific reason for the rejection.1 You must keep a record of the categories under which you are rejecting individual postal voting statements to enable this.

Every rejected postal voting statement must be accounted for. You must keep a list of those postal votes that have failed the personal identifier checks.

The list must contain, for each such rejected postal vote:2

• 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 voting statement, and
• any other information relating to the rejection that you consider appropriate, but not the ballot paper number(s)

The specified reasons for rejection of a postal voting statement are that:3

• the signature does not match the example held on the personal identifiers record
• the date of birth does not match the one held on the personal identifiers record
• the signature field is blank
• the date of birth field is blank

Where a postal voter appears on the list of postal votes that have failed the personal identifier checks, the ERO is required to notify the postal voter of the rejection within three months of the date of the poll.4

The ERO’s requirement to send a notification is suspended if you suspect that an offence may have been committed in relation to a particular postal vote.5

You should therefore keep a record of any instances where you suspect an offence may have been committed and forward it to the ERO so that they know in which cases they should not send out a postal vote identifier rejection notice. This should be done at the same time as you forward all other election documents to the ERO.

Where fraud is suspected, you should package the contents of the postal ballot pack separately and inform your local police Single Point of Contact (SPOC). You should handle the postal ballot pack as little as possible and, where you can, make a note of each person who has handled the postal ballot pack.

For further information, see our guidance for EROs in England and Wales on issuing postal vote identifier rejection notices.

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 Local 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 local 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 in England and Wales. 
 

This part of the guidance focuses on the preparations you will need to make in advance of polling day and some of the issues that you, as LRO, may need to consider on the day.

It covers what equipment and materials you will need to provide for polling stations, information on polling station set-up and managing the close of poll.

Our polling station handbook covers in detail the voting procedures and what polling station staff can expect on polling day. 

You can find our guidance on the identification of suitable polling stations in our section on booking suitable polling stations.  

You are required to provide certain equipment and materials to polling stations, and will need to plan this in advance to ensure that everything is in place for the delivery of polling station voting. 

Summary of items to be provided to polling stations

You must provide polling stations with:1  

• ballot box(es)
• ballot papers (including tendered ballot papers)
• pens or pencils to enable voters to mark their ballot papers 
• polling screens2
• the relevant part of the electoral register
• absent voters lists – postal voters, proxy voters and postal proxies 
• forms to record the details of electors who have been issued ballot papers after the correction of a clerical error (which may be appended to the polling station register)
• the corresponding number list 
• ballot paper accounts
• ballot paper refusal list (BPRL)
• a large-print version of the ballot paper, for display inside the polling station
• an enlarged hand-held sample copy of the ballot paper to give to electors to take to a polling booth with them for reference
• a voting device for use by blind or partially sighted voters. 
• guidance for voters (‘How to vote at these elections’) notices (for display both inside and outside the polling station)
• instructions for voters notices (to be displayed inside the polling booth)
• large notice showing the accepted forms of photographic ID to be produced when applying for a ballot paper and a statement that further proof of identity may be required to resolve any discrepancy between the voter's name on the electoral register and the name on the identification used (for display inside the polling station)
• a separate area for the checking of photographic ID in private
• declaration by companions of voters with disabilities forms
• a list of tendered votes
• a list of votes marked by the Presiding Officer
• a statement of number of votes marked by the Presiding Officer
• a list of voters with disabilities assisted by companions
• copies of the return of postal voting documents form
• packets, with seals, in which to place the items to be returned to you, such as postal ballot papers returned to the polling station, and for packaging the election documentation at close of poll
• any additional equipment you have determined necessary to make voting easier and more accessible for disabled voters, eg badges identifying polling station staff

In addition, you should provide:

• voter identification evaluation form (VIDEF) and VIDEF notes form
• mirrors, so that voters who removed their face coverings for identification purposes can ensure their face covering is in place correctly before leaving the private area
• privacy screens, where a separate room is not available for checking photographic ID in private. ROs should take into account the safety of staff and the risk of allegations of undue influence
• envelopes, with seals, in which to place any ballot papers that have been issued but which the elector has not placed in the ballot box
• form or list to record electors marked as postal voters but who claim not to have applied for one
• notepaper for use by polling station staff
• stationery items as required, e.g. paper clips, drawing pins, adhesive tack, adhesive tape
• plastic sacks for returning stationery and equipment to the verification venue
• envelopes for making up assorted packets

You are legally required to make such arrangements as you think fit to ensure that staff, candidates and agents appointed to attend the station are provided with the following relevant secrecy requirements3

We have also produced a template survey for polling station voters who required additional assistance when voting, which you may want to provide in polling stations. More information can be found in our guidance for Returning Officers on assistance with voting for disabled voters on Reviewing the election.

You should check that all polling station equipment is fit for purpose and that you have a sufficient quantity, particularly in the event of a high turnout. This should include considering if you should supply additional ballot boxes to Presiding Officers as one box may not be sufficient should there be a high turnout. 

You should prepare your polling station equipment and materials in good time before polling day, either for delivery to polling stations or collection by Presiding Officers. 

You should ensure that any additional equipment you have identified to make the polling station accessible is delivered and set up in good time for the opening of the poll. Our guidance on providing equipment that makes voting easier for disabled voters provides further information to support your planning.

Where a polling station has an induction loop installed, it should be used wherever possible to support the accessibility of the electoral process to voters with hearing loss. Polling station staff should be trained on how to use these at the briefing session.

You must provide each polling station with the number of ballot papers that you think may be necessary.1   

As part of your consideration, you should estimate expected turnout levels. You should assume that the turnout will not be less than the turnout at the last equivalent poll, and you should take into account the potential for late engagement and interest in the election, and any local or national issues which may affect turnout.  

If you decide for any reason that you are not allocating ballot papers for 100% of electors entitled to vote in person at a polling station, you should give careful consideration to the number that will be required in each case and have plans in place to ensure that additional ballot papers can be provided in a timely manner to any polling station that may require them.  

You should also ensure that Presiding Officers understand how to complete the ballot paper accounts to take account of any additional allocation.

When allocating ballot papers to polling stations, you must ensure that the numbers on the ballot papers allocated to each polling station run consecutively in order to avoid any problems with completing the corresponding number list or ballot paper account. Guidance on the printing of ballot papers is provided in Production of ballot papers and checking ballot papers before allocation.    

You must also supply tendered ballot papers to Presiding Officers. To avoid tendered ballot papers being issued in error, it is good practice to supply them in a sealed envelope with:

• instructions stating that the envelope should only be opened and the ballot papers within it issued in limited, prescribed circumstances after consultation with the elections office
• a brief description of those circumstances2  
• instructions to consult the polling station handbook for further information

You must provide each Presiding Officer with the appropriate part of the electoral register for their polling station and the appropriate absent voting lists.1  

Polling station staff should be trained on the various franchise markers that will appear on the register.2 They need to be aware of the importance of the security of voters’ personal details on the electoral register and absent voting lists.

Polling station registers can be printed once the final election notice of alteration has been published, five working days before polling day.3  However, you should ensure that all printed polling station registers:

• are checked to ensure that they are complete
• reflect any recent additions or deletions to the register
• have the appropriate franchise markers in place

There is no legislative deadline for determination of absent voting applications. However, if the absent vote is needed for a forthcoming poll you should liaise with the ERO (where you are not already the ERO) to establish the latest practicable point for the determination of absent vote applications and the process for updating polling station registers and absent voting lists and communicating updates to polling station staff so that you can ensure that polling station registers and the absent voting lists are accurate.

Once the registers have been printed you should instruct your Presiding Officers to check that:

• they have been provided with the correct register for their polling station
• the register includes the expected number of electors allocated to their polling station

Alterations to the register 

You should have procedures in place to deal with any necessary amendments made before polling day or on polling day itself. These procedures should cover your method:

• to amend the polling station registers and absent voting lists after they have been printed, as a result of determination of absent vote applications, clerical errors, granting emergency proxy applications or late verification of postal vote applications
• for communicating the relevant information to Presiding Officers, which may be done orally or in writing

More information about clerical errors can be found in our guidance for EROs in England and Wales. 

If a person makes a complaint to polling station staff that suggests that they should be on the electoral register, the Presiding Officer must communicate that representation to the Electoral Registration Officer as soon as is practicable. For this to work effectively you will need to ensure that you have suitable communication systems in place between Presiding Officers and the Electoral Registration Officer.

For more information on training staff see our guidance on training presiding officers, poll clerks and polling station inspectors. 

You must prepare and provide a corresponding number list for each polling station.1 The corresponding number list is a prescribed document that can be found in the appendix to the election rules and can be provided 'to like effect'. 

There are two types of corresponding number list: one list to be to be used in polling stations, containing the ballot paper numbers and a column to add the elector numbers of voters to whom those ballot papers are issued.2  

The other list is to be used at postal vote issuing sessions, containing the number and unique identifying mark of every ballot paper produced, as well as the elector numbers of postal voters. For more information on the postal vote opening process please see our guidance on Receiving and opening postal votes.

You must provide each polling station with a ballot paper refusal list (BPRL) to capture information relating to the voter identification requirements.

ROs may ask POs to collect data using the Voter ID evaluation form (VIDEF). Although it is not a statutory requirement to collect this information, we would recommend collecting it in order to understand the operation of the voter ID requirements at different types of election. Where you decide to collect VIDEF information at these polls, you would not be required to collate the data and submit it to the Secretary of State or to the Commission and there would also be no restrictions on the publication of the VIDEF data.

If you decide to collect VIDEF information, you should provide:

• the Voter ID evaluation form (VIDEF)
• the VIDEF notes sheet

​​​​The BPRL and VIDEF notes sheet are used throughout the day to capture and record information in relation to the voter ID requirement:

At the close of poll the PO will complete the VIDEF with the information from the BPRL and VIDEF notes sheet.

The polling station handbook provides further information how to complete these forms.

Postal votes can be returned by hand to any polling station in the voting area.1   

For each poll taking place, there will be limits to the number of postal votes that can be handed in by an individual, and restrictions on who the individual handling the postal votes can be. For more information, please see our guidance on the postal vote handing in process and refer to the polling station handbook.

You should brief polling station staff on the postal vote handing in process and also on how to identify which postal votes can be returned to their polling station. For more information on training staff please see our guidance on Training Presiding Officers, Poll Clerks and polling station inspectors. 

You should provide polling stations with packets for:

• accepted received postal votes
• completed return of postal voting documents forms for accepted postal votes
• rejected received postal votes 

The number and style of packets should be based on returns to polling stations at the last equivalent polls, but you should keep in mind the potential for late engagement and interest in the election which may affect turn out.  

Records of all such packets should be kept so that each one can be accounted for. The packets should be clearly labelled and state:

• that they contain postal votes 
• that they contain either accepted or rejected postal votes or the return of postal voting documents forms
• the name of the polling station 
• the polling station identifier

Security of returned postal votes 

You should ensure that the packets are capable of being securely sealed. 

Polling agents are entitled to attach their seal to sealed packets before they are removed from the polling station and must therefore be permitted to do so.2   

As part of your training you should emphasise to Presiding Officers the importance of maintaining the security of postal votes returned to polling stations. Once the return of postal voting documents form has been completed in the correct manner, both it and the  postal vote(s) should be immediately placed in the relevant packets provided and the Presiding Officer  should ensure that the packets are stored securely throughout the day.

You should arrange for accepted postal votes to be collected from polling stations throughout the day as this will help to reduce the number that will have to be dealt with after the close of poll. Polling station inspectors can perform this duty. You should ensure that processes are in place to maintain a clear audit trail and to ensure the security of collected postal vote packets while in transit. Rejected postal votes must be returned in their packet at the close of poll.

Polling stations should be laid out with the voter in mind. In particular, you should take into account the needs of voters with a range of disabilities.

You should consider the positioning of all of the furniture and equipment, as well as where the notices should be displayed, and the placement of signage both within and outside of the polling station.

You should develop plans for the layout of each of your polling stations which can be used to assist those setting up the polling stations. You should consider the voter experience and flow, including how the voter will move through the voting process from entering to exiting the polling station. The layout of the polling station should enable the voter to cast their vote in secret, and it should also allow polling station staff to detect if someone is trying to influence or gain information about the way in which an elector is voting. 

You will need to ensure that whoever is in charge of setting up polling stations knows how to do so and what the layout should be capable of achieving. 

If someone other than polling station staff is setting up the polling station, your polling station staff should check that it has been set up properly. They should have reference to any layout plans you have produced and the polling station set-up checklist in the Commission’s polling station handbook when doing so. 

The polling station handbook also covers the positioning of equipment and display of notices, and provides examples of layouts for both a room where there is one polling station and a room where there is more than one polling station. 

Polling station inspector visits can be used to check polling station set-up and to ensure that all notices remain properly displayed throughout polling day. We have developed a checklist to support their visits.

You can find more information and resources for staff training on the set up of polling stations in our guidance on training presiding officers, poll clerks and polling station inspectors. 

Polling station notices

The PARO must prepare and supply you with two notices:  the ‘Guidance for voters’ notice and the ‘Instructions for voters’ notice.1  The contents and display requirements of these notices are prescribed in legislation.2  

You must also display a large notice inside each polling station which contains details of the documents the voter needs to produce when applying for a ballot paper:3

• in the case of an elector (other than a person registered anonymously) or a proxy, the forms of acceptable photographic ID  as prescribed in legislation
• in the case of an elector registered anonymously, the elector's official poll card with an anonymous elector's document showing the same electoral number as shown on the official poll card

A statement should also be provided on the notice that further proof of identity may be required to resolve any discrepancy between the name of the voter on the electoral register and the name on the photographic ID  that has been provided.4  

Use of English or Welsh in polling stations

When you brief polling station staff, you should make clear that only English (or in Wales, English or Welsh) should be used when assisting or giving instructions to electors in polling stations. This ensures transparency in proceedings, and enables any observers or polling agents present in the polling station to monitor the voting process. 

Some voters may need assistance in another language because of their limited English (or English or Welsh) language skills. You should consider what support you are able to provide to those voters in your area, such as providing translations of the polling station notices. 

In some exceptional cases the translated notices may not be sufficient or appropriate. For example, a voter may have low levels of literacy or may have a question that falls outside of what is covered by the notices. In those circumstances, polling station staff may provide assistance in a language other than English or Welsh if they can. 

Where assistance is given in another language, polling station staff should explain to other staff and any polling agents or observers present what question has been asked and the response given. 

You should remind polling station staff to contact the LRO (or ERO if applicable) if they have any queries from electors that they are unable to deal with. 

You need to decide when to allow the use of mobile phones in polling stations and make this clear to polling station staff in your staff training. 

Our advice is that you should not allow photos to be taken inside polling stations. The law relating to obtaining information in polling stations and disclosing such information is complex and there is a risk that someone taking a photo inside a polling station may be in breach of the law,1 whether intentionally or not. 

You could decide to display a notice inside polling stations to make clear that photography of any kind (including photos taken on mobile phones) is not permitted. 

While you should ensure that all polling station staff are aware of this guidance, they should also understand that some voters with sight loss may need to use apps on their mobile phone or other devices to help them to read documents, and they should allow them to do so. 

An election agent or polling agent might ask polling station staff for information on the number of ballot papers issued. It is for you to decide whether to release this information. 

A request for the number of ballot papers that have been issued can only be made by those who are entitled to be inside the polling station. If you decide to provide this information, you must be careful not to release any information that may risk breaching the secrecy of the ballot. 

We have produced guidance on how polling station staff can calculate the number of ballot papers issued. This can be found in our briefing for polling station staff.

Voters who at 10pm are in their polling station, or in a queue outside their polling station, for the purpose of voting, may apply for a ballot paper.1

If a person is in the polling station or in a queue outside the polling station by 10pm for the purposes of returning postal votes, they may do so after 10pm.  

You should consider as part of your planning where queues may arise and ensure that you have arrangements in place to be able to respond as necessary

You should ensure that polling station staff are monitoring turnout throughout the day and providing progress reports to polling station inspectors, and that they alert you to any intelligence that indicates a risk of there being a queue at close of poll at any polling station. 

You should also consider involving your police SPOC in planning arrangements to deal with possible queues at the close of poll, so they can assist you with queue management if necessary.

The Commission’s polling station handbook sets out in detail the processes to be followed at the close of poll, including how to deal with voters held in a queue at 10pm.

This section is intended to help you make decisions about some of the key aspects of delivering the verification and the counting of the votes, such as managing attendance and observation, ensuring security of ballot papers, audit processes and dealing with doubtful ballot papers.  

It provides guidance to support the key decisions you need to make, and highlights recommended approaches to assist you in understanding and discharging your duties, ensuring that there is transparency in the process and enabling you to deliver an accurate result in which voters, candidates and political parties have confidence.

There are a variety of methods for arranging verification and count processes at an election, and there is no one size fits all approach which can be applied. Every voting area has its own set of local circumstances that will influence the decisions that you must make, in discussions with the PARO, as part of your planning for how you will deliver the verification and count processes.

When planning for the delivery of the verification and count you should keep your general planning assumptions under review to ensure they continue to be realistic and robust. This should include assumptions on turnout, the number of candidates, speed and capability of count staff and expected timing for completing the various count stages. 

Such a review will help inform a realistic assessment of whether you will be able to deliver the overall plan for the count, and whether and when it may be necessary to implement contingency plans. In all cases, your plan should be flexible enough to allow you to respond if any of your assumptions change, covering what contingency actions you will take in such circumstances.

Your plan should also identify key points during the count process at which you will review progress against the expected schedule. This progress review should be used to keep the PARO, candidates, agents and the media informed of the progress of the count. 

Decision-making

You should keep a record of all steps taken in order to be able to provide an audit trail demonstrating your decision-making process. You should be able to explain your decisions, and you should be prepared to do so in response to enquiries.

To help build confidence in your plan for the verification and count, you should share information and consult and engage on your plan with stakeholders. You should communicate throughout your planning process and be prepared to explain the reasons for the decisions you are taking. For key decisions, you should provide your reasons to stakeholders in writing. 

You should also identify in advance those decisions about the management of the count that must be taken in consultation and agreement with candidates and agents, and make clear to them on what basis you will be making decisions. This includes, for example, decisions on re-counts and the suspension of the count. While you should seek input from those affected or interested to inform your decision-making, ultimately the responsibility for making decisions remains with you as LRO along with the PARO.

Documentation 

You should produce templates for all the documents to be used at the verification and count in advance and ensure staff are familiar with them. Colour coding the documentation can be an effective way of quickly locating the relevant documents. 

Equipment and set up

You will need to decide what equipment you will require to administer the verification and count (as appropriate) and to communicate with the PARO, candidates and agents and anybody else attending the count, including:

• public announcement systems
• phone lines
• mobile phones and mobile signals
• general IT equipment and spreadsheets for recording verification and count figures
• equipment for verifying the personal identifiers on returned postal votes (if the final  opening of postal votes is to take place at the verification venue)
• screens for displaying any relevant information throughout the count

We have prepared a checklist to help relevant staff ensure that all materials, including stationery and equipment required at the verification and count venue are present. 

We have also developed guidance to support you should you need to procure any equipment.  

You should ensure that your verification and count arrangements take into account any directions or guidance from the PARO and that can deliver the following key principles for an effective verification and count:

• All processes are transparent, with a clear and unambiguous audit trail. For example:
  • everything is carried out in clear view of all those entitled to attend
  • sufficient information is provided to attendees on the processes to be followed
  • communication of information is consistent and open

• The verification produces an accurate result. This means that the number of ballot papers in each box either matches the number of ballot papers issued as stated on the ballot paper account or, if it does not:
  • the source of the variance has been identified and can be explained, and/or
  • the box has been recounted at least twice, until the same number of ballot papers is counted on two consecutive occasions

• The count produces an accurate result, where: 
  • the total number of votes cast for each candidate and rejected votes matches the total number of ballot papers given on the verification statement for the voting area
  • the verification and count are timely 
  • the secrecy of the vote is maintained at all times
  • the security of ballot papers and other stationery is maintained at all times
  • the communication of information at the verification and count is clear and timely

In addition to considering how to ensure that your processes will enable you to meet the key principles, you will need to consider other practical factors that will affect the organisation and timing of the verification and count, such as: 

• the size of the voting area
• the geography of the voting area
• the size and capacity of the venue 
• the ability to ensure transparency for candidates, agents and observers at the venue
• the cost of using the venue

In all cases, you should keep a record of your decisions and you should keep your verification and count plans under regular review as circumstances may change.

More guidance on choosing and managing your venue can be found in Verification and count venues and layouts.

As prescribed in legislation, the counting of the votes must begin as soon as practicable after the close of poll.1

The PARO can direct as to the time by which the verification of ballot papers must begin and you should engage with the PARO at an early stage to discuss and develop timings for all of the verification and count processes.

You should take decisions on the timing of the count before the notice of election is published and inform those with an interest, including local political parties and broadcasters at an early stage. There will be an expectation among candidates, parties and the media that the results will be declared as soon as possible after the close of poll. Working closely with the PARO, you will therefore need to plan carefully how to manage the expectations of candidates, parties and the media.

Methodology 

The way that you organise and manage the verification and count will have an impact on timing. 

You should consider using a mini-count approach when planning your verification and count. It is widely accepted that breaking down the verification and count, into areas smaller than the relevant electoral area, is particularly effective in achieving an accurate, timely result with clear audit trails.

The results from those areas are then aggregated to achieve an overall result for the relevant electoral area. Any counting issues that may arise will be limited to a more manageable area and any re-counts that may happen as a result, may be limited.

You will need to decide whether you will take the opportunity to start counting votes before the verification is completed. 

You should allow sufficient time to conduct a well-run count process and ensure an accurate result in which voters, candidates and agents can have confidence. 

There are several things that you can think about at an early stage to help estimate the timings of each stage of your verification and count. This should include:

• the number of staff and any staffing formulas you have in place e.g. number of ballot papers counted per hour per count assistant 
• whether you have a stand-alone election or combination of polls
• the number of ballot papers that were processed at a previous equivalent election
• the methodology used at previous elections e.g. mini-counts 
• the timings at previous equivalent elections for completion of the various stages of the verification and count

You should share these timings with stakeholders together with the assumptions that underpin them. However, you should also warn stakeholders that these timings are indicative only and may change on the night - for example, if turnout was significantly higher or lower than expected.

Some stakeholders may hold expectations as to how quickly the processes can be completed which cannot be met in practice and this can lead to tension and frustration at the verification and count. To manage expectations, you should explain in some detail the processes involved, how long each stage is likely to take and the resources you have put in place. 

Understanding the number of ballot papers that will need to be dealt with is a crucial factor in your planning, and will help determine the resources that you need for the verification and count. 

You need to think about the estimated:

• size of the electorate
• number of used and unused ballot papers
• number of returned postal ballot papers
• number of doubtful ballot papers to be adjudicated

Electorate

You will be able to estimate the eligible electorate by using the figure after publication of the revised register as a baseline, but accounting for likely increases in registration ahead of the polls. 

An analysis of the increases in the electorate ahead of the last scheduled polls can provide you with an idea of the percentage increase in electorate you can expect at the polls. 

You should also factor in any increases that may result from registration activity that EROs will be carrying out. You should be able to keep that estimate under review by monitoring the monthly updates to the register.

If you are not also the ERO, you will need to liaise with the relevant ERO to obtain the registration data. 

Used and unused polling station ballot papers

You will be able to develop an estimate of the number of used ballot papers you may have to process from polling stations by multiplying the estimated electorate by the expected turnout. You can then identify the volume of unused papers that will also need to be verified, as set out in the following example table:

The above calculation will give you a robust estimate of the number of polling station ballot papers you will need to manage at the verification and count, but you should build in some contingency to ensure you are prepared to deal with a greater than expected turnout and/or electorate.

Whilst the number of tendered ballot papers to verify will likely be relatively small, you should also consider the number of tendered ballot papers you will need to manage and plan on how you will do this. 

Volume and management of returned postal votes

The publication of the revised register will provide a baseline for the number of postal voters in your area, and you should consider the percentage increase ahead of previous similar polls too. You should also factor in any registration activity being carried out by EROs ahead of the poll.  

Regular monitoring of the absent voting list will allow you to keep your estimate under review. 

Using your assumption on postal voter turnout for the electoral area, you can then calculate the total number of postal ballot papers you might have to process. You can then keep this under review by monitoring the progress of postal vote returns in the period leading up to polling day and include an analysis of the pattern of postal vote returns from previous equivalent polls in your planning. 

Planning for processing postal votes handed in on polling day

The time taken to verify postal votes handed in at polling stations can lead to delays at the verification and count. You will need to plan how you will ensure that there are no delays due to awaiting the arrival and processing of the last postal votes. Regular collections of postal votes during the day should help to minimise any delay.

You need to decide on the arrangements to enable the efficient verification of returned postal voting statements after the close of poll including whether: 

• postal vote identifier checks will take place at the verification venue or elsewhere? If the process takes place at the verification venue this is likely to be more convenient for candidates and agents to observe and it will be more straightforward from a transportation point of view, but there are risks involved in moving an established operation and equipment to a different venue.
• equipment needs to be moved or additional equipment needs to be put in place to facilitate verification? If so, you should ensure that it is tested in advance
• you have the appropriate staffing levels to ensure any delay in verifying the final postal votes is minimised?

You will need to decide how to manage the verification of identifiers on returned postal votes where you are not also the ERO or where, as a result of the relevant electoral area crossing boundaries, more than one ERO will hold the personal identifiers record containing the specimen signatures and dates of birth for some of the electorate.  

You will need to ensure that your plans for the checking of personal identifiers on returned postal voting statements received on polling day does not lead to a delay at the verification and count.

Managing doubtful ballot papers

The number of doubtful ballot papers that may require adjudication because the voter has not marked the ballot paper in accordance with the instructions will also affect the resources that might be required at the verification and count. By analysing the results of previous comparable elections you should be able to estimate how many doubtful ballot papers they may need to process at the count. 

As LRO, it is part of your role to ensure that everyone who wants to observe the verification and count has access to the information they need to enable them to do so. 

This section contains information on who can attend the verification and count, and guidance for your plans for communicating throughout the verification and count processes.

The following people are entitled by law to attend the verification and count:  

• you and your staff
• the PARO and their staff
• candidates
• one guest per candidate
• election agents (or a sub-agent on their behalf)
• counting agents
• Commission representatives
• accredited observers
• any other person permitted by you, as LRO, to attend1
  • You need to be satisfied that it will not impede the verification or efficient counting of votes and that you have either consulted the election agents or thought it impracticable to do so.2  

You should take all necessary steps to ensure that anyone attending does not interfere with or compromise the secrecy of the vote. You are legally required to make such arrangements as you think fit to ensure that all attendees3 are provided with a copy of the relevant secrecy requirements.4  

You have a legal duty to give counting agents reasonable facilities for overseeing the verification and counting of the votes. You should ensure that anyone who is entitled to attend has an unrestricted view of the proceedings, without being able to interfere with the work of your staff.5

There is no requirement for those attending to arrive by a certain time. You should have a process in place to ensure that, those entitled to attend can be admitted whenever they arrive. This process should also allow any attendee who wishes to leave and return later to do so.

You must give counting agents reasonable facilities for overseeing the verification and counting of the votes, and provide them with relevant information.1  

In particular, the law requires that where votes are counted by sorting the ballot papers according to candidate and then counting each set of ballot papers, the counting agents are entitled to satisfy themselves that the ballot papers are correctly sorted.2  

You must also give notice in writing to counting agents of the time and place at which the verification and counting of votes will start.3  

Further information can be found in our guidance on the appointment of counting agents.

Good communication, both at candidate and agent briefings in advance of the count and at the event itself, allows those present to properly scrutinise all of the processes and will help to build confidence in the administration of the verification and count. Providing information on the process can also help to lower the number of queries raised by candidates and agents – in particular from new or inexperienced candidates – helping to reduce the pressure on staff.

You should also ensure that there is always a way for agents or observers to make direct representations to you should they be concerned or dissatisfied in any way with the manner in which the proceedings are being carried out. Enabling such representations to be able to be made at the earliest opportunity is important so that any concerns may be considered, explanations and reassurances given, and any corrective action taken if necessary. 

Verbal announcements 

You should use a public address system to make announcements about what is happening where and when throughout the verification and count process. These should be timely and co-ordinated to ensure that information is communicated in a way that allows candidates, agents and observers to fully understand the progress of the count.

You could make announcements:

• when you have received all the ballot boxes from polling stations
• when you have received all the boxes of postal votes
• when you have completed verification
• to confirm the turnout figure and how many ballot papers are going through to the count
• when you are about to start the adjudication of doubtful ballot papers, setting out where this will take place
• when you are ready to announce the results so attendees can make their way to the declaration area
• to notify attendees of any delays

At standalone elections, if you have decided to start counting the votes while the verification is still taking place, you should ensure you inform those attending of this. 

It is helpful to also have a dedicated member of staff available to brief any attendees who arrive after the verification or count has commenced as they may have missed your announcements.

Signage throughout the venue

You should have adequate signage in the venue so that attendees can find their way to the various areas. In particular, if the public address system can only be heard in certain parts of the venue, you should let attendees know where announcements can be heard, through clear signage and by including this information in packs for attendees.

You should consider displaying copies of the layout plan at various locations throughout the venue, indicating key areas of interest for counting agents and observers. You could also provide a description of the roles of counting agents and an explanation of what other guests are permitted to do, as well as photographs of yourself and your key staff to help attendees identify you at the count.

Information pack for attendees

You should provide an information pack for attendees which could include information on: 

• the key roles of those conducting the verification and count (including names and photographs of you and your key team)
• the relationship between the count in your voting area and the election as a whole. For example, you may need to explain that each voting area feeds into a regional result that is calculated by the PARO
• the local verification and count processes, including that each voting area is verified and counted separately 
• all ballot box numbers and the name of the polling stations they relate to
• the security arrangements for the ballot papers and boxes
• the template verification and count paperwork, including a copy of it, that will be used to communicate the outcome of the verification and count
• how agents can observe and participate in the adjudication of doubtful ballot papers
• the procedures for the result declaration - you should liaise with the PARO to ensure that the information on how the result will be calculated and declared, is correct  
• the venue facilities and general rules including that smoking is not allowed within the building, and any policy regarding refreshments, use of mobile phones and taking photographs
• any other health and safety issues e.g. evacuation procedures and fire drills
• where attendees can get further information

The information pack should also make clear to those attending the count that they should communicate any questions via count supervisors rather than counting assistants. This will help to ensure transparency of communication between counting staff and other attendees at the count (including counting agents). 

You should brief senior staff on how to respond to queries from attendees.

Communicating the results

After the counting of votes is complete you are required to communicate the local count totals to the PARO who will collate those local count totals with others from across the police area to establish the result which they will declare.

In these circumstances you will declare the local count totals with the candidates and agents present.

You should provide copies of the results for candidates, agents and the media.

Additionally, you should make arrangements for the results to be published on the local authority’s web site as soon as possible. You can also share the results link through your council’s social media accounts.

The verification process has two main purposes which are:

• to ensure and demonstrate that all ballot papers issued at polling stations and all returned postal ballot papers have been brought to the count, and 
• to provide the figure with which the count outcome must reconcile 

You should keep both of these purposes in mind when conducting the verification process. 

Ensuring accuracy at the verification stage is crucial to ensuring a timely count. If the verification figures are wrong there will be a variance against the count figures which will need to be resolved and which risks significantly slowing the overall process.  
 

The correct and orderly receipt of ballot boxes and materials from polling stations is a key component of an accurate verification process. You need to decide the most effective arrangements for receiving ballot boxes and other materials. 

Making assumptions on the timings for the delivery of ballot boxes will help you to ensure that: 

• staff receiving ballot boxes from polling stations will be able to alert you if any box(es) are overdue as this may indicate a problem either for an individual Presiding Officer or a wider problem affecting a number of Presiding Officers

Your estimated timings for the completion of the verification stage will depend on any direction given by the PARO as to when the verification of ballot papers must begin.  

You should be able to estimate when each ballot box is expected to arrive at the verification venue, while recognising the potential for delays as a result of possible queues at the polling station at the close of poll or other factors such as adverse weather etc. Your analysis of previous polls will provide valuable information to assist and there are also many websites and apps that will calculate the time it takes to travel between a polling station and the verification venue. 

You can also establish the average time it takes for a Presiding Officer to complete the relevant forms and package up materials following the close of poll by considering experience at previous polls or by carrying out an exercise to time the process in practice. 

You will need to ensure that Presiding Officers can get ballot boxes securely and efficiently to the verification venue so that the verification and counting processes can be commenced as quickly as possible. You will need to consider the geography and transport links of the electoral area and the particular characteristics of the chosen venue (for example, car parking, access roads, etc.).

Using collection points

One option may be to receive polling station materials from Presiding Officers at one or more locations (‘collection points’) and then transport the materials in bulk to the verification venue. You will need to decide if the use of collection points may speed up overall receipt of the polling station materials at the verification venue.

If you adopt this approach, you will need to put in place robust arrangements to ensure the correct and orderly receipt of ballot boxes and materials from polling stations at the collection points. If possible, staff receiving the ballot boxes should also undertake a cursory check of the ballot paper accounts, including the basic arithmetic, before the Presiding Officers are allowed to depart. The ballot boxes and other materials from polling stations would then need to be securely transported to the verification venue. See ensuring the security of ballot papers and other materials for further guidance on this. 

If you decide to use collection points, a further check that everything delivered to the collection points by Presiding Officers has also been received at the verification and count venue would be advisable. You will need to include the time it would take to complete these checks when calculating the potential efficiencies of using collection points and weigh up these factors in reaching any decision.

Number of ballot boxes

You will need to plan for how many ballot boxes you will receive at the verification and count. This will be determined by your calculation of how many ballot papers a ballot box can hold depending on the size of the ballot paper or ballot papers and therefore how many ballot boxes will be supplied to polling stations. For more information see our section on equipment and materials to be provided for the polling station.

You should be aware of any live issues which may affect the transportation of ballot boxes to the verification venue, for example severe weather or road closures, and will need to decide what contingency measures are appropriate. You will need to monitor the situation on polling day and be able to take operational decisions to deal with situations as they may arise, such as vehicle breakdown. You will also need to decide what communication protocols will be for drivers to alert you to any delays.

Queues at the close of poll

The provision to allow those in queues at the close of poll to cast a vote could potentially cause delays if polling stations are operating beyond 10pm. You need to decide what mechanisms you are going to put in place to minimise any delays should this situation occur. You should also have in place communication protocols so that you can be immediately alerted in the event of queues arising. This will enable you to make an early assessment of the likely delay and adjust the verification as necessary, for example by re-allocating resources.

Whether Presiding Officers transport the ballot boxes to the verification and count venue or hand them over at a drop off point, you should make clear to the staff receiving the ballot boxes that no Presiding Officer should be allowed to leave until their ballot box(es) and all of the documents and packets have been received and checked off by the designated staff member and, wherever possible, a cursory check of the ballot paper account has been made. You should instruct staff receiving ballot boxes to ensure that they have the ballot paper account for each ballot box.

If Presiding Officers are bringing multiple ballot boxes to the verification venue/or collection point, you should provide staff to assist the Presiding Officer in transporting all ballot boxes and accompanying materials into the verification venue or collection point in one trip.

You should also record the time of arrival of each ballot box, so you can use this information for future reference.

Your process should ensure that anything missing can be quickly identified and action can be taken to locate the missing items. 

You will also need to ensure that you have processes in place to ensure the security of any personal data included on the ballot papers and other paperwork from the polling station.

You should collate the details of all the polling stations in advance, together with the names and mobile phone numbers of each Presiding Officer so that you can easily contact Presiding Officers in the event of any problems. 

Presiding Officers should record any issues for you to consider, if required, at the verification and count.

Your team of staff receiving materials from polling stations should use a checklist to ensure that you accurately account for all ballot boxes and ballot paper accounts, as well as any packets containing postal votes handed in at polling stations. 

We have prepared a checklist for you to print out and use during the verification:

You should have a team of trained staff responsible for registering receipt of every ballot box, the postal votes and the other materials that have been delivered from polling stations and postal votes delivered to the Local Returning Officer at council offices.

You should organise the packets and parcels from polling stations so that you can easily locate any packet. 

The sacks containing the documents that need to be stored, including sealed corresponding number lists, sealed packets of rejected postal votes and accompanying packets of postal vote return forms, need to be separated from those containing items that will be reused, such as general stationery items.

You can then release the various materials received back from polling stations to the receiving staff in the relevant teams, to enable verification of the unused ballot papers and the opening of accepted postal votes to commence. These processes can run simultaneously to the verification of used votes. 

The following table summarises the action you should take for each type of sealed packet received:

In line with your document retention policy, you should ensure that:

• the materials that you must keep sealed are placed in a designated and secure area for the duration of the verification and count
• any personal data is destroyed at the appropriate time

You should bring any postal ballot papers previously received, opened and processed to the verification and count venue in sealed ballot boxes, with an accompanying ballot paper account for each postal ballot box. 

You need to decide on the most effective arrangements for the delivery and receipt of sealed boxes of postal ballot papers from all of the postal vote opening sessions. 

Staff receiving the postal ballot boxes should use a checklist to ensure that all postal ballot boxes and postal ballot paper accounts are accurately accounted for. 

You must verify all packets and ballot boxes containing postal ballot papers in the same way as any ballot box from a polling station.1 As these will often be some of the first boxes being verified, they present an opportunity to create confidence in the process and in the count as a whole.

In conjunction with your police SPOC, you should decide how you will ensure that ballot boxes and other materials are transported securely to the verification and count. 

As part of this, you will need to assess if you have any areas of high risk which may, for example, require a police escort, security van or additional personnel to transfer the ballot boxes from the polling station to the verification venue/collection point following the close of poll.  

Security in transit

You should ensure that Presiding Officers are clear about the rules and processes following the close of poll, including in relation to sealing the ballot boxes. Guidance on this is contained in the Commission’s polling station handbook. You should make clear to Presiding Officers that they should never leave the ballot boxes or other materials unattended and that, if they themselves are delivering the ballot boxes and materials to a collection point or the verification venue, that they should take steps to ensure their security throughout the journey, for example by locking their car doors and following any specific police advice.

Where the PCC count is to take place at a different venue to the verification, you must place all the verified ballot papers into secure packets, such as ballot boxes, for transportation to the count venue.1  You must mark these packets with the name of your voting area and the name of the police area.2

You may need to liaise with the PARO regarding specific arrangements for transporting verified ballot papers to the count venue. 

You must also produce a record of the content of each of the packets of verified ballot papers that you are transporting to the PCC count venue.3  You must deliver this record, the ballot paper accounts and the final statement as to the result of the verification to the PCC count venue along with the packets of verified ballot papers.4

You should agree with the PARO the arrangements, including the names of the personnel involved, for the delivery of the packets for the PCC election. Once the packets of verified ballot papers have arrived at the count venue the PARO may require you to verify the contents of each packet before the counting of these votes is commenced.

At the count venue, you should have robust arrangements to check in all the materials and paperwork delivered to ensure that nothing is missing.

Security at verification venue

You should make arrangements for how the ballot papers and other materials will be kept secure once they arrive at the verification and count venue(s), for example, by ensuring they are never left unattended.

These plans should also include the security of those materials that you must keep sealed (such as the corresponding numbers list), either by staff watching the materials or by securing them in a locked room.

Where there is a break in proceedings, you will need to seal ballot papers in ballot boxes or another suitable container and store them securely during the break. 

On completion of the verification, you should place the ballot papers for any contests which are not being counted immediately after verification into ballot boxes which are then sealed. You must allow any agents present to attach their seals.1

In order to ensure the security of the ballot papers you could consider:

• storing them in sealed ballot boxes in a locked room, ensuring that you have control of all the keys to that facility
• arranging for security staff to guard the ballot boxes at all times until the verification/count resumes

You should liaise with your police SPOC when deciding on the most appropriate method for ensuring secure storage.

Once the verification/count has resumed, you should open the sealed ballot boxes in clear view of any candidates and agents present, so they can satisfy themselves that nobody has interfered with the ballot boxes or ballot papers.

Occasionally incidents occur during verification and count which may require the evacuation of the venue, either permanently or until the situation has been resolved.  

Obviously, in these circumstances, the safety of attendees is paramount but certain situations may not pose an immediate risk to the safety of staff. Having pre-prepared evacuation plans in place can help to maintain the integrity of the verification and count processes and the security of the ballot papers.  

In the case of an urgent evacuation it may be possible to secure the ballot papers which are still on the tables by locking up the venue or storing them within a locked room in the venue. In that case, you will need to have control of all the keys to that room or to the venue. If you have more time it may be possible to place the ballot papers in ballot boxes and then seal the ballot boxes (inviting agents to affix their seals if possible) and then securing the sealed boxes within the venue.

Sometimes the situation will mean that if the ballot papers are left in the venue they are likely to be damaged. In these situations it may be possible for the ballot papers to be secured within ballot boxes and removed from the venue by staff and taken to a place of safety until the verification and count can resume. In these circumstances, you will benefit from having a clear protocol for sealing the ballot papers within ballot boxes and clear labelling of those boxes. You should also consider how you would ensure the secure transportation of ballot boxes and their subsequent storage in these circumstances.

If a ballot paper account does not reconcile, you should undertake the procedure as outlined in the following table and document the outcome on the verification statement:

    
We have produced a check list for the steps to take when dealing with ballot box variances. 

Verification can only be completed once all postal ballot papers, including those received at polling stations, have been opened and processed, and have been through the verification process.1  

Verification statement

You must ensure that the verification statement containing the result of the verification of each ballot box is completed.2

The statement must in each case include the total number of postal ballot papers and the total number of ballot papers verified for the poll.3 You should sign the statements. 

Any agent may make a copy of the statement as to the result of the verification4 and, to promote confidence in the result, you should make copies available for the agents present once verification has been completed.

You must send a copy of the statement to the PARO. The PARO will provide you with guidance on how this should be done.5

If, on completion of verification, you do not proceed immediately to the counting of the votes, you should place the ballot papers and other documents in secure packets under your own seal and the seals of any agents present who wish to affix their own seals. 

You should take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the ballot papers and the relevant stationery during any break in the verification and count proceedings. 

Further information can be found in our guidance on ensuring the security of ballot boxes.

Where the PCC count is to take place at a different venue to the verification, our guidance on the secure transport of the ballot boxes and other materials sets out how you can manage this process.

Count staff should arrive at the times agreed by you in advance and should check the count stationery and equipment is present, using our checklist to assist. You should ensure that staff are checked in and that you brief them as necessary to ensure smooth delivery of the count.

You must have taken reasonable steps to begin counting the votes as soon as practicable after the close of poll.1  

At stand-alone polls, you do not have to wait until you have completed the verification, before you can start counting the votes.

You should open all boxes in full view of any agents that are present. When a box has had a seal attached by an agent, you should take particular care to show to any agents present that this seal is still intact prior to it being broken. 

All count processes should be transparent. You should also provide appropriate opportunities for those who are entitled to observe and to object to doubtful ballot paper adjudication decisions. This should include ensuring that you store bundles of counted ballot papers in full sight of counting agents to allow them to monitor progress throughout the count.

Mixing

You must mix the ballot papers so that ballot papers from each ballot box are mixed with ballot papers from at least one other ballot box, and mix the postal ballot papers with ballot papers from at least one other ballot box before sorting and counting the votes.1  

Sorting and counting

Ballot papers must be kept face upwards throughout the counting process in order to prevent the number and other unique identifying mark on the back of the ballot paper being seen.2 The ballot papers should be visible at all times to any candidates, agents and observers present.  

Counting assistants should sort the ballot papers into votes for each candidate. Any doubtful ballot papers should be placed aside for adjudication.

The number of votes given for each candidate should then be counted and placed into bundles of a predetermined number, e.g., bundles of 10, 20, 25, 50 or 100. 

They should attach a slip bearing the candidate’s name, together with the number of ballot papers in the bundle, to the front. It may be helpful to colour-code the slips. The bundles should then be recounted by another counting assistant in order to ensure the accuracy of the bundle.

Supervisors should flick through the bundles in order to ensure that all of the votes in the bundle are marked in the same way before removing them from the counting staff.

It is unlikely that the number of votes in the final bundle will equal the predetermined bundle number, and so you should make a note of the number of votes in those incomplete bundles and attached to the front of the bundle.

You should set aside any doubtful ballot papers for adjudication.

At the end of the count, you must inform the PARO of your local totals.3 The PARO will then collate the totals for the whole of the police area.

The candidate with the highest total number of votes across the police area will be declared elected, and the PARO will inform you of the result.

You should adjudicate doubtful ballot papers regularly as the count proceeds: you should not leave this until the end of the count. 

You should have regard to the Commission’s booklet on doubtful ballot papers throughout the adjudication process. The booklet contains examples of allowed and rejected votes and the key principles to be followed in the adjudication of doubtful ballot papers and can be accessed from our resources page for this section.

You can also find examples of allowed and rejected ballot papers on the doubtful ballot paper placemat, which you should have on display at the count for candidates, agents and observers to refer to. 

Adjudicating doubtful ballot papers

When adjudicating doubtful ballot papers, you should:

• always be clear and consistent
• take time to ensure that a considered decision is given in every case
• determine whether the intention of the voter clearly appears on the ballot paper

As part of this, you will need to:

• consider the whole of the ballot paper
• consider whether the way a ballot paper has been marked means that a vote for one candidate is clearly apparent

Rejected ballot papers

The legislation provides that you must reject a ballot paper which:1  

• does not bear the official mark (not the unique identifying mark)
• votes are given for more than one candidate 
• on which anything is written or marked by which the voter can be identified (except the printed ballot paper number or other unique identifying mark)
• is unmarked 
• is void for uncertainty2

However, the legislation states that unless the way the ballot paper is marked identifies the voter, a ballot paper on which the vote is marked in the following ways must not be rejected if the voter’s intention is clear:3

• elsewhere than in the proper place
• otherwise than by means of a cross, or
• by more than one mark

In addition, ballot papers may require further consideration where there is:  

• anything unusual about it (for example, any ballot paper that appears to have been altered, either with a clearly different writing instrument or with correction fluid)
• any tears or damage to the ballot paper

Ballot papers that are torn or damaged are able to be accepted as a valid vote as long as the paper still contains the official mark and the intention of the voter is clear and none of the other grounds for rejection apply. 

You can find further information in our guidance on how to deal with cut ballot papers at postal vote openings.

You must decide on the validity of all doubtful ballot papers in the presence of candidates, agents and observers. 

Those that are subsequently declared as valid must be counted and included in the total number of votes cast for the appropriate candidate.4

Recording rejected ballot papers

Your decision on any question arising in respect of a ballot paper is final and can only be challenged by way of an election petition.5

You must draw up a statement showing the number of ballot papers rejected and for what reason.6  You should therefore have a system in place throughout the adjudication process for sorting the rejected ballot papers into the following headings:  

• want of official mark
• voting for more than one candidate
• writing or mark by which voter could be identified
• unmarked
• void for uncertainty

You should have regard to the Commission’s guidance and any additional guidance issued by the PARO to ensure accurate and consistent categorisation of rejection for reporting on the statement. 

You must ensure that you mark each rejected ballot paper with the word ‘rejected’7  and must add the words ‘rejection objected to’ if a counting agent objects to your decision.8

Although observers should be able to observe this process, unlike agents, they do not have the legal right to object to the rejection of a ballot paper.

You should place a copy of the rejection statement in the package for rejected ballot papers.

Once all of the ballot papers have been sorted and any doubtful ballots adjudicated, the key task of reconciliation can begin.

All processes should be undertaken within the framework of maximum openness and transparency implemented throughout the various stages of the count so that all candidates and agents can have confidence in the processes and the provisional local total provided.

You must count all of the bundles and part bundles of ballot papers showing a valid vote for each candidate.1  

You must then add the total for each candidate to the total number of rejected ballot papers. This total figure should match exactly the figure giving the total number of ballot papers obtained at the end of the verification process. 

If the two figures agree you should proceed to the process of consulting the PARO on the provisional local total2 as well as informing the candidates and agents present.   

Procedure for unreconciled results

You should be satisfied that the results or totals (as appropriate) reflect the ballots received. If the figures do not reconcile, you should take steps in order to identify and rectify the discrepancy such as:  

• checking the storage area and check to ensure that all ballot boxes have been opened and are empty
• checking all floors and surfaces for ballot papers that may have been dropped in the count venue
• re-checking the verification figures and reconciliation for calculation mistakes
• ensuring that all rejected ballot papers have been accounted for
• checking that all bundles and part bundles have been counted
• consider recounting the ballot papers in the bundles

You should also carry out any other checks you deem necessary. 

In the planning stage, the PARO will have advised you of the processes in place for considering the provisional local total and dealing with requests for recounts.

Provisional local totals

Once you are satisfied that the number of votes for each candidate is accurate you can proceed to draw up the provisional local result and inform the PARO. Once the PARO has given you authorisation you must share the local totals with the candidates and agents present1 and seek their agreement.   

You should make it clear that the candidates, election agents or designated counting agent are entitled to request a recount of the local totals.

Once you are satisfied you are not going to receive a request for a recount you must prepare the statement of the conclusion of the count. 

Recount procedures 

You must give the candidates and agents sufficient time to digest the provisional local totals before proceeding to the next stage of the process.2 It is at this point that candidates and agents may request to have the votes recounted or, following a recount, recounted again.3  

The PARO may direct you to recount the votes after being informed of the provisional local totals if they have reason to doubt the accuracy of the counting of votes in your area. If a recount has been directed, once that recount is complete, the provisional local total process should begin again.   

You must consider any recount request but by law may refuse if, in your opinion, the request is unreasonable.4 You may, however, consider offering the candidates and agents the opportunity to inspect the bundles of the ballot papers as a means of reassuring them that the local total is accurate.

If you agree to recount the local total,5 you should inform the candidates and agents present at the count before the recount commences and briefed on the processes you are going to follow. As with the original count, you should carry out any recount in full view of those present. You are entitled to reconsider which ballot papers should be rejected during the recount (or any further recount).6   

You must consult on the revised provisional local result in the same way as they were consulted on the provisional totals at the conclusion of the original  count. 

It is possible to have more than one recount. Again, it is for you to consider any request, and you may refuse if in your opinion the request is unreasonable.7  

When two or more candidates have the same number of votes in the voting area, there is no requirement for the LRO to draw lots. You should explain to the candidates and agents that the totals for the voting area will be transmitted to the PARO for inclusion in the calculation of the result for the police area.

As soon as practicable at the conclusion of the count (including any re-count) you must prepare a statement.1  

This statement must include the total number of votes given to each candidate, the total number of ballot papers used and the number of rejected ballot papers under each heading.2

You must provide the statement to the PARO.

As soon as the PARO has received the local totals from across the police area, the PARO must ascertain the total number of votes given in the police area to each candidate. 

The PARO will tell you when you can inform the candidates and agents who are present, of the local count totals  and the statement of rejected ballot papers. 

The PARO will also inform you when you can declare the local results.   

When planning for the declaration of the local results you should:

• decide on the exact location in the venue where public announcements and declarations will take place and who will be on the platform at these times
• ensure the platform is accessible for all those who need to get up on it
• consider if you could make use of display boards to provide a suitable backdrop for the announcement of local totals
• check any equipment that you will use for the announcement before the proceedings begin
• double-check that the local total is accurate, and that it is written in the form of words for oral delivery in order to avoid any errors - you may need to repeat the declaration so that those in attendance are able to hear the detail clearly, particularly where there is noise from those attending
• consider how you will provide media representatives in attendance with a written copy of the local totals at the time the announcement is made as this will help them to ensure that their transmission of figures is accurate
• make sure you follow the requirement to draw up a final statement and make a declaration of the local totals and the details of the rejected ballot papers under each heading

Declaration of Police Area results     

The PARO must make the declaration of results and give public notice of:

• the person declared elected and, if any, authorised description
• the total number of votes given for each candidate
• the number of rejected ballot papers under each heading as shown in the statement of rejected ballot papers

The PARO must also share a copy of the notice of declaration of result with you. As soon as practicable after you receive this notice you must give public notice of it within your voting area. 
 

This guidance is designed to support you with the activities you are required to complete after the declaration of the result. 

You will find guidance on the immediate actions you need to take with regard to giving formal notice of the result, guidance to support you in managing the storage and retention of election documents as well as information on access and supply.

We have included contact information in relation to accounting for the election, details about the collection of candidates’ election spending returns, and the actions required with that process. 

Finally this guidance includes information about challenges to the election result and the petition process. 

At the PCC election, it is the PARO who produces the notice of result. 

The PARO must send a copy of the notice to you. As soon as practicable after receiving a copy of the notice, you must give public notice of it within your voting area.1

You should ensure that the notice of results is made available to all interested parties as soon as possible, including by publishing it on your local authority’s website.

The PARO is responsible for managing the return and forfeiture of deposits at the PCC election. 

You should maintain a document retention policy. You should ensure that you do not retain documents for longer than the period specified in your document retention policy and that they are securely destroyed at the appropriate point.

Your document retention policy should set out the following for all documents you receive and hold:

• whether the document contains personal data
• the lawful basis on which any personal data was collected (see ‘Lawful basis for processing’ in our data protection guidance)
• your retention period
• your rationale for the retention period

You can find more information in our data protection guidance for Electoral Registration Officers and Returning Officers. 

In some cases this will be straightforward since electoral legislation will require a set period for which documents are retained, you can find a list of these documents here. In other cases, you will need to make a local decision and justify this in your document retention policy.

Our data protection guidance contains further information on the storage of personal data and on document retention.
 

Election documents

You must forward the required election documents to the relevant officer, who is legally responsible for keeping them.1 The relevant registration officer is either:

• the ERO of the local authority which contains the voting area
• if the voting area includes more than one local authority, the ERO of the local authority who has the greater or greatest (as the case may be) number of registered electors 

If you are not also the relevant registration officer, you must securely forward the documents to them.

The one year period that the documents must be stored for, starts from the date the ERO2  receives them.

You should liaise with them at an early stage to put in place arrangements for the forwarding of the prescribed documents after the declarations of results. You should ensure that all of the documentation is kept secure and accounted for during the process of being forwarded to the relevant ERO.

Election notices published on your website

You will need to consider whether it is appropriate or necessary for the various election notices published on your website to remain there beyond the expiry of the petition period for the election.

Where each notice serves a specific purpose, i.e. advising who will be a candidate at the election, once the election is over, and the opportunity to question that election has passed, they serve no further purpose. You should either remove such notices published on your website, or remove the personal data contained in these notices, once the petition deadline for that election has passed.

Data protection legislation does permit personal data to be stored for longer periods if the data will be processed solely for archiving purposes in the public interest, or for scientific, historical, or statistical purposes and subject to the implementation of appropriate safeguards. For election results, for example, you should retain these on your website as they are for public interest and historical and statistical purposes.

Home address forms

The home address form is kept by the PARO and must be kept securely stored for a period of 21 working days after the day the result was declared.

Return of equipment

You should make arrangements to return any equipment, such as the polling booths, to storage.

During this process you should conduct an audit of your equipment, identifying any damaged items for repair or disposal. This will enable you to plan for any replacements you may need to purchase for future polls.

You have a legal duty to seal up the election documents listed below and, on the completion of the counting of ballot papers, must forward these to the relevant registration officer.1   

If you are not also the ERO, the ERO will need to ensure that they have a mechanism in place to record the date of receipt, so they know when to destroy the documents that have been forwarded. 

The following lists contain the documents you must forward to the ERO.

Documents from polling stations:2  

• The packets containing:
  • list of tendered votes 
  • list of voters with disabilities assisted by companions 
  • declarations made by companions of voters with disabilities 
  • list of votes marked by the Presiding Officer 
  • statements relating to votes marked by the Presiding Officer 
  • list of persons to whom ballot papers are delivered after the correction of a clerical error or as a result of a decision on an appeal to the county court 
  • BPRL
  • VIDEF and VIDEF notes sheet (if used)
• marked copies of the register of electors, the marked list of proxies and any marked copy notices issued as a result of the correction of a clerical error or a decision on an appeal to the relevant court 
• the packets containing the completed polling station corresponding number lists 
• certificates of employment on duty on polling day

Documents from the postal vote issues and openings:3  

• marked copies of the postal voters’ list and postal proxy voters’ list
• the packets containing the completed postal vote corresponding number lists 
• the packets of postal voting statements accepted as valid 
• the packets of rejected postal votes
• the packet of rejected postal votes rejected at the point it was handed in (or left behind) at a polling station or at the council offices and the accompanying completed postal vote return forms
• the packets of rejected postal ballot paper envelopes
• the lists of cancelled, lost and spoilt postal ballot papers
• the packet of spoilt postal ballot papers and accompanying documents
• the packet of lost postal ballot papers containing any part of the postal ballot pack that was not lost and which was returned to you before you issued a replacement
• the packet of postal ballot papers, statements and envelopes that have been cancelled
• the packet of completed postal vote return forms for rejected postal votes and the relevant rejected postal votes 
• the packet of completed postal vote handling forms for accepted postal votes 
• unopened postal ballot packs received after the close of poll or returned as undelivered (these can be forwarded at a subsequent date)

You must forward to the relevant ERO:

• the packet of postal votes return forms for postal votes rejected handed into a polling station or at council offices4
• the statement as to postal ballot papers
• the relevant parts of the list of postal votes that have failed the identifier checks to the relevant ERO
• the list relating to postal votes rejected when handed in at a polling station or the council offices5  

The ERO will use this information to enable them to send postal vote rejection notices to those electors. You can find further information on this process within our ERO guidance for England and Wales. 

You should also forward at the same time your record of any instances where you suspect an offence may have been committed, so that the EROs know in which cases they should not send out a postal vote identifier rejection notice.4

For further information on the contents of the various lists relating to postal voting, see our guidance on Keeping records of the receipt and opening of postal votes

Documents from the count:5  

• all ballot papers separately stored as:
  • counted ballot papers
  • rejected ballot papers
  • unused ballot papers (both ordinary and tendered) and spoilt ballot papers (placed together) 
  • used tendered ballot papers
• ballot paper accounts, the result of the verification of the ballot paper accounts and the statement of rejected ballot papers
   

A full list of the documents you have a duty to forward to the relevant ERO can be found here in our guidance on Forwarding or retaining election documents.

You should make sure that the packaging process is as transparent as possible. You should maintain a clear audit trail when packaging and (if required) forwarding the documents as this will help to ensure that the retrieval of documents is facilitated should anyone wish to inspect the public documents. 

The packaging and labelling system you use should both provide secure storage and support timely retrieval.   

A clear audit trail and transparent process can be achieved by:

• producing clear labels for each packet 
  • you must seal all of the relevant documentation in separate packets and mark each packet with a description of its contents, the date of the election and the election to which it relates1  
  • the label must also include the name of the relevant voting area to which it relates, and should state how long the packet is to be kept and when it is to be destroyed (unless otherwise directed by a court order)
  • the labels for documents open to public inspection and for documents that are not open to public inspection should be different. As a minimum, the packets containing documents not open to public inspection should clearly state this fact
     
• ensuring that you have factored the parcelling up of documents into your verification and count planning. You can find more information in our guidance on planning for the verification.
   
• covering packing instructions as part of your training for polling station staff and when training postal voting and count supervisors. Providing written instructions should also help to reduce the risk of documents being packaged wrongly. A template graphical guide to packaging materials at the close of poll is available, which you could adapt and provide to polling station staff. Staff should also refer to our polling station handbook.  
   
• creating a list of all documents to be forwarded (where this is required). You should keep a record of all of the materials that you have a duty to send to the relevant registration officer, and ensure that all of the items are accounted for and delivered securely in accordance with data protection requirements. 

Where you have forwarded documents to the relevant ERO, you should also:

• record the number of parcels you have despatched
• record the details of the ERO to whom they have been sent
• obtain a receipt from the ERO confirming that the parcels have been safely received

It is important to ensure that all packets and receptacles containing election documents will be stored securely before being transferred to the ERO so that no unauthorised persons can tamper with them. 
 

At scheduled elections, we will request that you send information and data to us relating to the elections.

If you have chosen to collect data in the polling station relating to the delivery of voter ID, there is no requirement to share this data with us.

Forms for collecting information and data, and accompanying guidance notes for completion, as well as a Commission feedback form, will be circulated separately and will also be available on our website. 

Statement as to postal ballot papers

You must complete a statement as to postal ballot papers for your voting area.1

These statements are vital for the accounting of postal votes and for ensuring that voters have confidence that their vote will be counted in the way they intended. 

The statement should form part of the arrangements that you have in place to maintain a clear audit trail of the postal voting and count processes. 

You should complete the statement accurately using the figures recorded at the issue, receipt, opening and verification of postal votes.

You can find further information on record-keeping during the postal voting process in our guidance on Keeping records of the receipt and opening of postal votes.

Where to send the statement as to ballot papers

You must provide copies of the completed statements to the Secretary of State and to the Electoral Commission.

The statement must not be provided before the tenth calendar day after polling day but must arrive no later than the twenty-fifth calendar day after the polling day.2 If either of these dates is not a working day, the time is extended to the next working day.  

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities are administering returns on behalf of the Secretary of State, and statements should be sent to [email protected] using a subject title of ‘[authority name] – Form K1 return for the Secretary of State’. 

Statements should be sent to the Commission using [email protected]

Separately from the statutory statement as to postal ballots, the Commission collects data on postal voting through our online portal in a single data request alongside other relevant election data, e.g. turnout and rejected ballots. Details for how to provide the data to us will be provided in a Commission EA Bulletin. 

You must also provide a copy of the completed statement at the same time and to the same person as you forward the other election documents listed in our guidance: Forwarding or retaining election documents   
Details for how to provide this information to us will be provided in a Commission EA Bulletin.

Voter ID data on and after polling day

If you have decided to collect VIDEF information at this election, you should ensure that the data collected on a VIDEF is anonymised as soon as practicable (for example, by destroying any related VIDEF notes sheets or by removing any elector details recorded on the VIDEF for the purpose of capturing any of the required data) to ensure that no personal data is released. You should also ensure that the relevant privacy notice makes clear that personal data might be processed for this purpose, although no personal identifying data will be published.

There are no restrictions on the publication of this data. For more information on the publication of the data collected in polling stations, see our guidance for EROs in England and Wales on access to polling station data/statistics.
 

The responsibility for administering the inspection and supply of elections documentations, including the marked registers, rests with the Electoral Registration Officer, not the RO.

The following pages identify:

• the types of elections documents available for inspection or supply
• the types of elections documents not open for inspection

We have produced an access and supply checklist, which should be used alongside this guidance.

You should ensure that you have processes in place to retrieve data and securely destroy it at the appropriate time in accordance with electoral law and with your document retention policy, which should include the data protection principles.

Disclosure of personal information

If you receive a request to inspect any documents that contain personal data, for example the postal voting statement, you must also take into consideration whether inspection of the completed statement by that individual falls within the remit of their basis for lawful processing.

As a data protection safeguarding measure, it may also be proportionate to redact some personal data, for example the date of birth or signature, before providing the inspection of such documents.

Further detailed guidance on data protection legislation is contained in our data protection guidance.

Any requests to inspect or for supply of the marked register, marked absent voting lists and documentation relating to the election must be made in writing. Full guidance on this requirement is found in our ERO guidance for England and Wales.

You can find the full list of documents open to inspection from postal vote opening sessions, polling stations and the count in our guidance on sealing and retaining election documents.

The PARO will retain the nomination papers and the home address forms and will not forward these to the ERO after the election. These documents are not open for inspection after the election.

The following documentation is not available for public inspection, except by court order:

• ballot papers
• completed corresponding number lists
• certificates of employment on duty on polling day
• the lists of rejected postal votes that have failed the identifier checks and postal votes rejected at the point it was handed in (or left behind) at a polling station or to the council offices1
• postal vote return forms2

These documents can only be accessed if the High Court or a county court is satisfied by evidence on oath that access is required for one of the following reasons:

• for instituting or maintaining a prosecution for an offence in relation to ballot papers
• for the purpose of an election petition

Any appeal to any decision on access by a county court can be made to the High Court.

Applications do not have to be made in open court; they can be made by a judge from the relevant court either in open court or otherwise.

Ballot paper refusal lists (BPRLs)

The Electoral Registration Officer is responsible for dealing with requests for disclosure of information from the BPRLs. More information can be found in our guidance for EROs in England and Wales.

Following the election you may receive requests under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000. LROs, PAROs and EROs are not a public authority under this Act and, as such, are exempt from the disclosure requirements imposed by it.1

However, where possible, LROs, PAROs and EROs should disclose the requested information, provided this information is already in the public domain, or the information requested does not include personal data. An example of non-personal data would be statistical data providing the total number of electors registered in your area or the turnout of postal voters. 

PCC elections are funded by the UK Government and claims for fees and charges for the election are administered through the Elections Claims Unit, which is part of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). Detailed guidance and instructions for accounting for the election will be provided by DLUHC.

Contact details for the Elections Claims Unit are as follows:

Electoral Claims Unit, DLUHC
Second Floor, Rosebery Court
St Andrews Business Park
Central Avenue
Norwich
NR7 0HS

Please contact [email protected] for more information. 

Payment of creditors  

You should keep receipts, purchase orders and invoices received before and throughout the election period for all services/work provided, and pay all creditors as soon as possible after the election.

Payment of fees to staff

Income tax

Under tax rules a standard starter checklist, which is issued at the time of appointment, must be completed by all staff working directly for the Local Returning Officer. It needs to be completed only once rather than reviewed every year. You will need to issue a P60 form to the employee at the end of the tax year. 

If you terminate the employment of any of your casual staff following the election and issue them with a P45, then any returning casual staff who work at future elections will need to complete a new standard starter checklist at each new election.  

HMRC real-time information

All election payments made will be subject to HMRC’s real-time information tax payment system. You should ensure that you liaise with your local authority’s finance and HR departments to ensure that you can comply with the tax rules for all your employees, including any temporary and short-term contract staff. Further guidance is available from HMRC. 

Automatic enrolment into a workplace pension

All employers with staff working in the UK must comply with automatic enrolment requirements. Further guidance is available from the Pensions Regulator.

The PARO is responsible for dealing with the candidates’ election spending returns.1

Election results may be challenged either by way of an election petition or by a judicial determination of disqualification of a duly elected candidate. 

Your role as Local Returning Officer for both of these processes is limited. You should keep a robust audit trail of your decisions throughout the election period to be able to provide any necessary evidence as a result of an election petition.
 

An election petition can be used to challenge the result of elections. A petition for a PCC election can be presented by:1

• a person who claims that they were a candidate at the election, or
• four or more persons who voted at the election or who had a right to vote at the election

An election petition may not be presented by an elector who has registered anonymously.

What is the basis for an election petition?

The allowable grounds for a PCC election petition are that:2

• the person whose election is questioned was not duly elected
• the person whose election is questioned was disqualified at the time of the election
• the election was avoided by corrupt or illegal practices or on the grounds specified in Sections 164 and 165 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (as amended)

Who is made a respondent?

The duly elected candidate whose election is questioned will most probably be made the respondent to the petition. If the petition relates to the conduct of the election, you (or the PARO) may also be a respondent to the petition.3  

Deadlines for bringing petitions

A petition at a PCC election must normally be presented within 21 calendar days after the day on which the election was held.4  Further time may be allowed in certain circumstances. 

Any person who is considering presenting an election petition should be advised to take their own legal advice. For any questions relating to election petitions and the process for submitting petitions, including to confirm the deadlines, you should contact the Elections Petitions Office at: 

The Election Petitions Office
Room E105
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London WC2A 2LL

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 020 7947 6877

Any person may apply to the High Court for a declaration that a Police and Crime Commissioner (or in the relevant areas a Police Fire and Crime Commissioner) is, or at any time since being elected has been, disqualified from being a Police and Crime Commissioner (or in the relevant areas a Police Fire and Crime Commissioner).

Any person who is considering applying for a judicial declaration of disqualification should be advised to take their own legal advice.

After the poll you should carry out a thorough evaluation of all processes outlined in your project plan seeking feedback from appropriate stakeholders, and produce a lessons learnt document which will be used to inform the project plan and risk register for future electoral events.

The scope of the review should cover all aspects of the election and each process that was planned for and carried out should be reviewed.

A key part of the review will be the consideration of the aims and objectives set out in your project plan and measuring your performance against these.

You should pay particular attention to reviewing:

• your project planning
• whether you were able to secure adequate resources
• if you are not also the ERO, what worked well an what could be improved when working with them
• if you are not also the PARO, what worked well and what could be improved when working with them
• how contractors have been managed and whether they delivered work to the required specification
• the equipment and stationery used
• the recruitment and training of staff
• the suitability of venues used
• the management of polling stations, the absent voting process, and the verification and count 
• the processing and handling of queries
• any issues affecting the security/integrity of the election

As part of the review you should seek feedback from appropriate stakeholders including:

• your staff
• if you are not also the ERO, the ERO
• if you are not also the PARO, the PARO and their staff
• electors
• candidates, agents and political parties
• local organisations of disabled people, older people and minority ethnic groups, and the council’s access officers

You should consider inviting a number of members of staff, including polling station staff, to a discussion in order to address all aspects of the polling station process, from training and briefing sessions through to dealing with difficult situations on polling day. You could also take into account any feedback provided in reports returned by Presiding Officers and polling station inspectors.

Once you have reviewed all aspects of the election and sought feedback from appropriate stakeholders you should produce a lessons learnt document. The lessons learnt document should include an analysis of what practices were successful and where these could be used elsewhere, what you would do again or do differently, and key recommendations. The lessons learnt report should then be used to inform the project plan and risk register for future electoral events. 

Planning for the election

Agents

  Absent voting

Polling station voting