The following guidance has been produced to support Returning Officers (ROs) in planning for and delivering Senedd elections.

The guidance has been developed in close consultation with members of the Electoral Management Board for Wales (EMB), the Wales Electoral Practitioner’s Working Group (WEPWG), the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) and Welsh government officials. It reflects the ROs legal obligations and what we, and colleagues across the electoral community, believe that ROs should expect of their staff in preparing for and delivering the Senedd elections.

At a Senedd election, the RO is the person who has been appointed as the Returning Officer for Senedd elections in that constituency; in the case of a constituency that includes more than one local authority, the RO will be designated by Welsh Ministers.1 This person may also be known as the Constituency Returning Officer (CRO).

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 ROs and the duties they carry out. The RO is responsible for administering the Senedd election, including the conduct of the poll and the counting of the votes. 

As the ROs duties may, in practice, be carried out by deputies, we use the term you throughout this guidance to mean the RO and whoever is carrying out the RO’s functions on their behalf.

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

Where the RO needs to consider cross-boundary scenarios, the information will be contained in an expanding section. This means that next to the relevant heading there is an icon with a + which will expand to show the relevant guidance.

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.

You can find the Q&A document in the roles and responsibilities section of our resources page. 

This section of the guidance covers the appointment of the Returning Officer (RO) 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 RO to use in certain circumstances.

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

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

The Returning Officer for each constituency will be designated by Welsh Ministers.1   

Insurance

You are personally liable for the conduct of the election, you should ensure that you have appropriate insurance cover and should be prepared to demonstrate robust planning and decision-making processes in the event of any challenge to the election 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.

As Returning Officer (RO) 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 and those standing for election is a positive one. You must also consider the accessibility for voters at polling stations. Our guidance on assistance with voting for disabled people provides further information. 

To achieve this, you will need to have in place an effective mechanism for liaising with any appointed deputies in the constituency. 

As RO, you are personally responsible for the conduct of the Senedd election, including:

• publication of the notice of election1  
• administration of the nomination process2  
• encouraging participation
• publication of the statement of persons nominated and the notice of poll3
• provision and equipment of polling stations4  
• appointment of polling station staff5  
• conduct of the poll6  
• management of the postal vote process7  
• verification and counting of the votes8  
• calculation and declaration of the result9

Your duties as RO are separate from your duties as a local government officer. As RO 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 RO, you cannot delegate your personal responsibility for delivering your duties at the elections. Our guidance on the appointment of deputy Returning Officers provides more information

Deputy Returning Officers

Where a constituency includes more than one local authority, the RO designated by Welsh ministers for that constituency may appoint the other local government RO’s or individuals from the other local authorities in their constituency as deputies and will work closely with them on operational issues. 

In the case of a constituency that covers more than one local authority, you may want to use the support and local knowledge of officers in the other local authorities in the constituency to help you deliver the election such as:

• identifying polling stations
• appointment of polling station staff
• conduct of the poll
• issue and receipt of postal votes

The RO may wish to agree and formalise delegation of roles and responsibilities by appointing any LROs or officers from any other local authorities in the constituency to act as Deputy Returning Officers with specific powers. 

For more information see our guidance on the appointment of Deputy Returning Officers.

Electoral Management Board for Wales

The Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru (DBCC) has established The Electoral Management Board for Wales (EMB) which seeks to ensure that the interests of the voter are kept at the centre of all elections planning and administration.

The EMB undertakes this by assisting ROs and EROs in relation to devolved Welsh elections through the promotion of best practice by providing information, advice or training. 

The EMB is responsible for the co-ordination of electoral administration for Senedd elections and has the power to issue directions to ROs and to EROs in respect of Senedd elections.10 The EMB directions will be issued following consultation with the Electoral Commission.

The directions or recommendations issued by the EMB are available on their website and their aim is to achieve consistency in delivery of Senedd elections across Wales.

ROs and EROs must follow any directions issued by the EMB.

The EMB is also responsible for hosting and operating the Welsh elections information platform to which election addresses can be submitted.

The Welsh elections information platform

The elections information platform will provide accessible, timely and impartial information to electors to help them make informed choices at elections. It will be searchable by postcode and electoral area and will provide voters with specific information for their constituency.

The platform will include:

• official notices published by ROs
• polling station and accessibility information
• election addresses

An election address is a campaign statement that a candidate makes to the electorate to persuade electors to vote for them. The election address will be an online version of one of the freepost communications that may be sent via Royal Mail.

An election address may be submitted to the EMB for inclusion on the platform.

For more information see the EMB website.

As Returning Officer (RO) 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 your deputies) 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  your electoral functions  that are not in accordance with the rules or any other requirements applicable to the election.2

This power allows you to correct procedural errors that are made by you as RO, or made by any deputy RO, EROs, Presiding Officers or persons providing goods or services to you/them. This power does not extend to correcting errors made by candidates or agents. For more information on mistakes made during the nomination process by candidates and agents, please see our guidance on the correction of minor errors. 

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 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 the Commission’s Wales team for support and advice if you think you may have made a mistake that could be corrected using this power. You should also seek your own independent legal advice. 

Where you remedy a procedural act or omission in full 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 RO to recalculate the result of the election once the result has been declared. 

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 particular 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 in your constituency.

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

• obtain the staff and resources necessary to deliver a well-run election 
• draw the necessary support, skills and expertise from across your own local authority and any others in the constituency1  
• oversee the planning, project management and risk management of the election
• incorporate any lessons learnt from previous polls, identifying and overseeing any actions necessary to mitigate any issues arising
• ensure that staff are appropriately trained to deliver the roles required of them
• support the staff administering the election and provide appropriate oversight of their work
  provide direction to staff, monitor progress and receive regular feedback on activities
• in the case of a constituency that covers more than one local authority:
  • maintain effective working relationships with any appointed deputies in the constituency
  • maintain effective working relationship with any Electoral Registration Officers (ERO’s) in the constituency 
  • seek advice and assistance from any appointed deputy and to officers at any other local authorities in the constituency
• maintain an effective working relationship with your police Single Point of Contact (SPOC)
• ensure 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
• Government of Wales Act 2006 
• Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
• Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001
• Electoral Administration Act 2006
• The Senedd Cymru (Returning Officers’ Charges) Order 2021
• Wales Act 2014
• The Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Act 2024
• Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act 2024
• The Senedd Cymru (Representation of the People) Order 2025
• Welsh Elections Information Platform Regulations 2025
• The Welsh Elections Financial Assistance Scheme (Disabled Candidates) Regulations 2025
• The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (Exclusions and Variation of Campaign Expenditure Limits) (Wales) Regulations 2025
• Senedd Cymru (Disqualification) Order 2025

The list above includes only the legislation that makes provision in areas that this guidance relates to and the legislation that is currently in force. 

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

You are also required to have regard to:

• the public sector equality duty contained in Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 when carrying out your duties
• 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
• the Electoral Commission’s guidance:
  • on accessibility
  • for dealing with lost postal ballot papers
  • on making a request to confirm whether their postal vote has been returned/postal vote been rejected
  • on ordering of similar names on the statement of parties and persons nominated
  • on correction of minor errors

A Senedd 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.

Your work to deliver well-run polls 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 context relevant to these Senedd elections which you should ensure underpin all aspects of your planning.

Nature of the Senedd Elections

The evolving political landscape could mean that even in places where there have traditionally been large majorities 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 support to be able to participate effectively.

Given the possibility of close and hard-fought contests, you should be prepared for the integrity of the elections 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 processes effectively. It is therefore crucial that you put in place detailed and robust plans for monitoring and maintaining the integrity of the elections 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 and security of the election.

Scale and turnout

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

Levels of engagement 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 not be less than the turnout at the last equivalent polls.

As the poll becomes 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 polls, and this will include having robust contingency plans in place that you can turn to where required. If, for example, there are televised Leaders’ debates, these could conceivably result in a late surge of registration and absent voting applications, as well as having an impact on turnout and could alter the traditional pattern of when completed postal votes are returned.

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 vote,1 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 verification, count and declaration of results. 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 previous 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
• produced a lessons learnt document to inform the project plan and risk register for future electoral events

For more information see our guidance on reviewing the election.

We have 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. We have also provided an evaluation plan as part of the template project plan to assist you with the review process.

You can find the template project plan in the planning section of our resource page.

Project Plan

You should prepare a project plan, treat it as a living document, keep it under regular review, and use it to monitor progress.

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
• everyone can have confidence to participate safely in the electoral process
• everyone can have confidence in the management of the process and the results

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 you should also add in any others you identify as necessary, including ones specific to your local circumstances.

You can find the template project plan in the planning section of our resource page.

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

You can find a date-specific timetable in the planning section of our resource page.

You can find more information on the postal vote deadlines and proxy vote deadlines in our ERO guidance.

Your project plan should cover contingency planning and business continuity arrangements to enable all elements of the delivery of the election to continue in the event of any unexpected issues or disruptions. It is important to keep your contingency plans under review and to re-visit and amend them periodically during the run up to the poll. In doing so, you should consider the success and continuing appropriateness of any existing measures, identify any improvements and expose any gaps.

You should also develop and maintain separate ongoing contingency plans to support the delivery of any local by-elections that may occur.

Your contingency planning should include arrangements for the key areas of risk to the delivery of the election including:

Contractors

You should ensure that any suppliers you use – such as your EMS provider and any external print providers – have their own detailed business continuity plans in place. You should be satisfied that their contingency arrangements are sufficient to enable you to perform your duties in the case of any interruptions in service whilst fulfilling their own contractual duties. For more information see our guidance on managing the procurement process for outsourced work.

Venues

You should prepare a list of alternative venues that are available at short notice for each stage of the elections process and brief staff on the contingency arrangements for using these venues that may affect their role. For more information see our guidance on identify and book suitable venues and last minute changes to polling stations.

Staffing

You should identify solutions to enable you to respond to a sudden staffing shortage. You should liaise with your HR department who can use their expertise to assist you with your planning. Other departmental managers within your local authority, or neighbouring authorities with reciprocal agreements in place may also be able to offer additional support in managing any requirements for temporary staff for specific parts of the electoral process. For more information see our guidance on allocating sufficient staff resources and providing training and flexible staffing.

IT

You should liaise with your IT services to ensure that you have adequate resources and contingency measures in place to allow you to perform your functions in the event of IT failure. This could include:

• improving any measures allowing remote working capabilities
• having dedicated IT support during the election period
• storing certain files and documents locally to enable them to be accessed more easily
• sourcing any spare or alternative equipment that could be used as a backup, e.g. printers, laptops, routers

Security of electoral administration

Security risks should also be considered as part of your contingency arrangements, setting out how you will continue to deliver the election in the event of theft, fraudulent activity, or any other security risk as identified in your risk register. You should liaise with the police and business continuity experts from your council to identify risks and put appropriate continuity measures in place.

Additionally, you should work with IT services to understand what preventative measures are in place to protect against cyber-threats, such as ransomware attacks. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) advises that examples of preventative measures could include:

• Using Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
• investing in vulnerability management
• having offline backups
• having a tested recovery plan in place

A White Paper on ransomware has been published from the NCSC and the National Crime Agency (NCA). The NCSC has also produced this guidance to help you assess the risks associated with IT and cyber-threats.

Security of those participating

You should consider your plans to maintain the security of all those involved in each stage of the election, including staff, candidates, agents and their campaigners. You should liaise with the police to identify local risks and put appropriate measures in place. For more information see our guidance on working with your local police force, security considerations at electoral events and how to manage attendees at the count.

Additional security guidance for Returning Officers, candidates and agents is available at Security guidance for elections - GOV.UK.

Your project plan should include details on how you will deliver the key processes, including nominations, 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. For more information to support your planning, see our guidance on understanding the barriers to voting.

In the case of a constituency that covers more than one local authority, establishing early communication with any appointed deputies will assist you to plan effectively.

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, and especially at key points of the process such as the close of nominations, where risks may change depending on the context of the election, and which may impact on your planning assumptions. 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 will be not less than the turnout at the previous 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 consider the patterns of postal vote return rates at previous polls and anything that might affect this. For example, televised leaders debates at a Senedd election 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

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

• the ballot paper will be large and staff and voters may be slower handling them
• a longer tactile voting device may be required to accommodate a longer ballot paper
• more space will be required to accommodate the large ballot paper
• the counting process for separating the votes into bundles for particular parties and/or individual candidates may be slower and take up more space
• more space for candidates and agents may be required at the venues  

In order to establish the likely number of parties and/or individual candidates you should:

• make early contact with the political parties
• monitor expressions of interest
• monitor requests for nomination packs

This information can then be taken into account when taking decisions on venues, count layout, necessary equipment and staffing requirements to ensure the safe and secure delivery of the election.

You should review your planning assumptions once you know the details of those standing in your area, to ensure that they are still suitable or if any amendments are needed to ensure that polling day at the count run smoothly, safely and efficiently.

For more information see our guidance on security considerations at electoral events.

Staffing and timings

You should look at the number of staff and the processes used at previous elections 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 information see our guidance on providing information on key election processes.

Your project plan should include identification of staffing requirements, including any necessary recruitment arrangements. It is essential that you identify the staff you will need and make the necessary appointments at the earliest opportunity.

You should seek advice from your local authority’s human resources department as necessary to ensure that the methods used to identify, recruit, employ and pay staff are robust and comply with all legal requirements.

Following an assessment of the performance of staff used at previous electoral events, you may wish to write to staff used previously at an early stage in the planning process to check their availability.

You should ensure that all staff who interact with voters, including staff who support electoral services are sufficiently trained to carry out their role(s) and have been provided with accessibility awareness training, to help improve their understanding of the needs of disabled voters and the importance of clear communication.

Our guidance on ensuring that those working on the poll are aware of accessibility needs provides more information.

You should establish a project team to support you in carrying out your functions and in delivering well-run elections. In addition to yourself, your project team should include any appointed deputies from within your local authority, other elections staff members and the ERO (where you are not also the ERO).

Your project team should also include any other key personnel you consider appropriate, such as:

• your council’s communications team
• HR colleagues
• Finance colleagues
• IT
• your contact centre/front of house staff
• facilities staff
• your local SPOC

You should put in place deputy arrangements in case you are unable to act personally as RO. You may appoint deputies to discharge all or any of your duties and this can be for a limited time period or until further notice.1 In the case of a constituency that covers more than one local authority, you may wish to agree and formalise delegation of roles and responsibilities from the RO by appointing any LROs or officers from any other local authorities in the constituency to act as Deputy Returning Officers with specific powers.

Any appointed deputies should have the skills and knowledge required to carry out the functions they have been assigned such as assisting with the receipt of nomination papers, 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 is liable, in the same way as the RO 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 We have published a timetable containing the dates related to the publication of these notices.

You can find the election timetable for unscheduled Senedd elections in the planning section of our resource page.

You will need to appoint staff to help you to undertake the various election processes. You should identify staffing requirements and put processes in place for recruiting the necessary staff.

You should identify staffing requirements for 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 or on behalf of a political party or an individual candidate in or about the election.1

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 the issue of postal votes

There will need to be a number of additional postal vote issuing sessions 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. You will need to consider how to manage this, ensuring postal votes can be issued to electors as early as possible.

You should also 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 of a high turnout but, as a minimum you should assume 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 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 unexpected increase in turnout, or varying volumes of postal votes being returned on different days. For example, if there are televised debates, this may have an impact on the pattern and volume of returns and this should be part of your considerations when determining your staffing requirements. 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 monitor the work of the contractor, which should include carrying out tasks such as:

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

For more information see our guidance on managing contractors and suppliers.

Staffing for opening of postal votes

Your decision on 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.2

You must appoint and pay a Presiding Officer and such Poll Clerks as may be necessary to staff each polling station.1 This cannot be any person who has been employed by or on behalf of an individual candidate or, a registered political party, in or about the election.2

To meet your Welsh language obligations, you should ensure that voters attending a polling station can receive instructions and any help in both English and in Welsh.

There are some responsibilities that cannot be undertaken by a Poll Clerk, such as ordering someone to leave the polling station. You have flexibility to use the Poll Clerks you employ to carry out any other functions and responsibilities needed to deliver polling station voting effectively, including:

• the polling process – checking the register, marking the register, filling in the CNL and other statutory paperwork etc.
• managing the flow of electors and ensuring the secrecy of the ballot
• providing electors with additional information and support including:
  • answering questions about the process
  • providing information about the instructions for voting
  • providing advice and assistance to support the accessibility of the poll

When deciding on the allocation of electors and staff to polling stations, having regard to our guidance on the recommended minimum staffing levels for polling stations and on how staff could be deployed in different scenarios, will help ensure that voters can receive a high-quality service.

It is for you to consider each polling station individually and make and 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 2,500 electors allocated to it
• in addition to a Presiding Officer, there should be one Poll Clerk for polling stations with up to 750 electors
• one additional Poll Clerk should be appointed for polling stations with up to 1,500 electors
• one further Poll Clerk should be appointed to a polling station with up to the maximum of 2,500 electors

These ratios are guidance only, they are not mandatory. You should also have regard to any directions or recommendations issued by the EMB.

When making decisions on 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:

• the likely number of first-time-voters at a Senedd election, including 16 and 17 year olds and qualifying foreign nationals, who may need to have the voting process explained to them
• any particular local circumstances such as population increases (for example, due to any new housing developments since your last polling place review) and demographic trends
• levels of postal voters
• the potential for late engagement including any local or national issues which may affect the turnout and interest in the election – as a minimum you should assume that the turnout will be not less than the last equivalent polls
• 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 understanding any recent changes to the electoral process
• 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

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 staffing levels at the polling station. Each decision should be taken on a case-by-case basis and not for the constituency as a whole.

As well as keeping a record of decisions made you should maintain a plan which ensures you are able to respond to issues, for example dealing with a queue at one or more polling stations in your area at particularly busy times such as traditionally after work rush, or in the run up to close of poll 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.

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 or needs 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 staff should be trained to be involved in the issuing process. 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 the polling place contains multiple polling stations, a member of staff could be used as an information officer covering all of the polling stations and to assist with directing voters to the correct polling station and providing advice and assistance as required
• staff from one polling station in the polling place could also be used to assist staff in another polling station within that building 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 constituency are not easily accessible, you could find it helpful to have teams positioned in different parts of the area.

You will also need to think about how to train staff so that you can deploy them flexibly on polling day. For more information see our guidance training presiding officers, poll clerks and polling station inspectors.

Polling station inspectors play an important role in the effective management of the polls. They provide an essential communication link between you and your polling station staff including dealing with queries and problems arising at polling stations on polling day.

You should appoint polling station inspectors to visit and inspect polling stations on your behalf on polling day. In deciding on the allocation of polling station inspectors to polling places, you should consider:

• the geography of the area and travelling distance between polling places
• the number of polling stations in each polling place
• the experience of polling station staff at each polling station
• expected turnout levels and any particular local circumstances
• the number of visits polling station inspectors will be expected to make to each polling station during the day

Duties of a polling station inspector

Polling station inspectors should ensure that all of their assigned polling stations are:

• properly set up in such a way as to take account of voter needs and contribute to the smooth running of the polling station
• fully equipped and accessible to all voters
• meeting your expectations of service to voters

The polling station inspector should work with the Presiding Officers and other polling station staff to identify and deal with any problems arising throughout polling day and at the close of poll, and should escalate any issues to you as appropriate.

You should have a process in place for the ERO to communicate any amendments to the register and emergency proxy applications. You should advise polling station inspectors of their role in this, if any.

Initially, polling station inspectors should aim to visit all of their allocated polling stations as quickly as possible in order to be able to re-assure all stations have opened on time and are operating effectively.

These initial visits could be preceded by a separate communication sent by Presiding Officers to their polling station inspectors, prior to the opening of the poll. For example, polling station inspectors could be notified via text message confirming whether the polling station is set up and ready for opening, and whether there are any issues. This should then help the polling station inspector prioritise their visits.

Subsequent visits throughout the day can be used for a variety of purposes including:

• collecting postal votes
• answering any questions that polling station staff may have
• checking that all notices remain properly displayed
• delivering any missing or additional equipment that is required

Instructions for polling station inspectors

You should provide polling station inspectors with clear instructions about their role and a checklist of tasks that they should carry out and complete during their polling station visits. This checklist also contains a list of what each polling station inspector should receive prior to polling day.

Completed checklists can also be used to inform an evaluation of the suitability of polling stations as part of the post-election review process. You can find a copy of a checklist to print and use in our planning the election resources section.

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 nevertheless be able 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.

You could 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 constituency are not easily accessible, it may be helpful to have teams positioned in different parts of the constituency 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.

For more information, see our guidance on 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.

To ensure that voters can have confidence that their votes will be counted in the way they intended, you will need to put in place appropriate staff resources to ensure that the verification and count are timely. The decision on when to commence verification may have staffing implications, and you will need to plan accordingly.

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 local authority’s existing support staff to perform this role.

The support staff that you use 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 you to identify a particular area that they need support within the polling station. You can find more information on understanding barriers to voting in our guidance.

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 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 any 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.

You should train all postal vote issue and opening staff on the processes involved at each stage. The training may be provided immediately prior to commencement of the issuing or opening processes, but you should provide them with guidance notes in advance.

However, you should consider training supervisory staff a day or two in advance of the issuing or opening session so that they are fully aware of their duties and what will be expected of them.

This training should cover:

• carrying out the required quality assurance checks whether you are issuing in-house or are using an external contractor
• ensuring that the opening procedures and the verification process are correctly followed and an audit trail is maintained

You should provide any person who will be undertaking the verification of postal vote identifiers and has been delegated the authority by you to make decisions on postal voting statements a copy of the Commission and Forensic Science Service guidance on signature checking, and instruct them to follow it.

You can find the Forensic Science Service guidance in the planning section of our resource page.

You should also consider whether any additional training may be appropriate for anyone undertaking this role. You should ensure staff are trained accordingly to ensure that any personal data is handled in accordance with data protection legislation.

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.

You can find the polling station handbook and polling station quick guide in the planning section of our resource page.

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
• the procedures to be followed on polling day itself – including the use of tablets if used
• 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
• provision for voters to receive a service equally in English and Welsh
• 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 ensure that all polling station staff undertake and complete this training.

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 account 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.

You can find the checklist for polling station inspectors in the planning section of our resource page.

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.

Training should also emphasise that the collection of postal votes as directed by the 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 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

It is your responsibility to staff the count and verification. 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, count and calculation of result 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.

For more information see our guidance on the principles of an effective verification and count.

You should identify appropriate venues for all election activities as early as possible.

Your project plan should cover the identification of suitable venues for all processes that you are responsible for.

You should contact the managers of these premises at an early stage to inform them of the relevant dates, and the necessary booking arrangements made. This will highlight where venues are not available and should allow sufficient time to act on the information and identify alternative premises.

When selecting venues(s) for postal vote issuing and opening sessions you should take into account the:

• lessons learnt from previous electoral events
• volume of postal ballot packs to be issued
• estimated volume of returned postal votes
• intended workflows
• IT requirements
• security and storage requirements
• presence of disabled access, both to and within the venues

Your layout plans should include the:

• number and positioning of staff
• the equipment needed, including electricity and network points
• workflows to be followed

When mapping out workflows, you should take into account factors including any lessons learnt from previous electoral events and expected turnout. If your last postal vote opening session is to take place at the verification and count venue, you should ensure that your verification and count layout plan makes provision for this.

The process of producing layout plans will help to highlight any potential issues prior to the setting up of the venues and will allow for any changes to workflow or the positioning of staff or equipment to be made in good time.

Layout plans also contribute towards transparency, as these plans can be handed out to anyone entitled to be present in order to help them to follow what is happening, where and when.

You should ensure that whatever layout you choose, it is accessible to all those working on the processes and those entitled to observe them.

Considerations for observation of outsourced postal vote issue

If you have outsourced the issuing of postal votes, you will still need to be satisfied that your contractors have made adequate arrangements to administer the issue effectively and in a transparent manner. As part of this, you could ask your contractor for copies of their proposed layout plans.

These plans would also help to ensure that any observers present understand the processes that are being followed and will be of particular assistance to your staff who have been appointed to conduct spot-checks during the printing, collation and issuing of postal ballot packs.

You should designate a member of the project team to monitor any outsourced work and the work of the contractor, specifically attending those parts of the issuing process that have been contracted out.

For more information see our guidance quality assurance and proof checking of election material.

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

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. For more information about the types of equipment you may need to consider see 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 should be able to demonstrate that an assessment has 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 in good time for 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.

You can find the polling station handbook in the planning section of our resource page.

Schools that are publicly funded, may be used as polling stations free of charge, and the legislation allows you to require a room in such schools for use as a polling station.1 You are also entitled to use, free of charge, any publicly-funded room as a polling station.2

You will, however, need to pay for any lighting, heating, etc., costs incurred when using such rooms as polling stations. You should liaise with the relevant schools and managers of publicly-funded rooms at the earliest opportunity to confirm that you want to use certain rooms within their premises as polling stations.

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 as far as is possible and practical.1

As the location of a polling station within a polling place is your responsibility, there is no need to seek local authority approval for such a change.

If, however there is a need to change the polling place, local authority 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 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 accurate results, with a clear audit trail, and that they are transparent, with everything carried out in clear view of all those entitled to attend.

The verification and count may take place at different venues and in these circumstances you will need to take into consideration travel to the different locations and impact on timings, steps required to package up the ballot papers in accordance with the relevant election rules, and secure transportation to the count venue.

Selecting the venue(s)

When selecting the venue(s) 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, count and where appropriate, collation, calculation and allocation of seat 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
• 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, 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
• where necessary a suitable area is available for any result collation, calculation and seat allocation (as appropriate)

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.

In the case of a constituency that covers more than one local authority area if you need to communicate with appointed deputies to obtain local count totals for the purpose of 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 postal votes received from polling stations. 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 political parties and/or individual 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 individual 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 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 elections, 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 decisions 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 that you need 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

If you decide to outsource work, you should commence the procurement process as soon as possible.

Your local authority will have adopted standing orders or regulations relating to procurement and contracts. You should take advice from relevant staff at your local authority on the procedures to be followed and legal requirements for procuring supplies and services. This includes consideration of any equipment that you may need to procure for the training and processes you undertake in-house such as:

• delivery of nominations electronically
• issuing postal votes
• opening postal votes
• polling stations – including the use of tablets
• verification and count

You will also need to have regard to the requirements of the Fees and Charges Orders.

You should document all stages of the procurement process. The risks of outsourcing should be clearly acknowledged in your documentation with contingency arrangements identified and built into the process.

Good public procurement practice recommends obtaining at least three written quotations from prospective suppliers. Some local authorities may, however, have a standing list of approved contractors who have already been through a tendering process. It may be more effective and economical to use such existing contractors and systems.

A detailed specification of requirements is essential for effective procurement and should be developed for all outsourced work. Suppliers should be able to provide robust information on how they are going to deliver the work as required by the specification. As a minimum that specification must:

• include a detailed description of what you want them to deliver and when
• provide clear instructions as to the necessary statutory requirements and obligations in relation to the particular work or services to be undertaken, such as directions as to printing and any content and layout requirements statutory deadlines
• contain relevant information about any data that will be provided, including processes for sending and receipt, and secure management of data
• be provided to all those invited to tender for the work, and the successful contractor must be able to meet all of the requirements of the specification
• make it clear that the successful contractor should be producing work or delivering services according to the specification and that no changes should be made during fulfilment of the contract without prior authorisation

You should take steps to ensure that the selected contractor understands the requirements and has the experience and suitability to undertake the work being outsourced. The final price in the suppliers’ proposals should not be the only consideration in choosing a contractor. Each bid should be carefully considered to assess exactly what it offers.

The focus should be on value for money, with the final decision being a judgement based on the contractor’s commitment to demonstrate:

• the best combination of the cost of the goods or service
• the ability to meet your requirements as laid out in the specification
• the capability to complete the work on time and to a high standard
• the provision of sufficient guarantees that the requirements of the data protection legislation will be met
• that the appropriate checks will be made relating to the suppliers’ statements as to security, health and safety, and the secure handling of data

Contractors may sub-contract work out and you should give prior written consent before sub-contractors are to be used. You should ensure that any sub-contractors are aware of the specific requirements as detailed in the specification and seek assurances that the sub-contractor will be capable of delivering the work.

Once you have made your final decision, you should take up any formal references of the chosen applicant. You should also notify unsuccessful applicants and be prepared to debrief them should they request it.

You should have a formal, written contract in place with every contractor to which you have outsourced a function or task. It is essential that statutory requirements and their implications are fully explained wherever contractors are used, and that these requirements are explicitly stated in the contract for any work.

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 local authority’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.

The data controller remains 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.

For more information see our guidance using contractors and suppliers.

The key to effective contract management is continuous and open lines of communication with the contractor, 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 RO, 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. 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 more information see our guidance 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:1

You can find a copy of the requirements of secrecy for the poll in the planning section of our resource page.

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 will be sent by the supplier in accordance with the tender/quote. You must settle the invoice within the agreed time.

As part of your preparations for the delivery of the poll, you should check in with suppliers to finalise arrangements well before the start of the election period. This is especially important if you have long-standing contracts in place and you should check that all contractual arrangements are still appropriate and fully meet your requirements, or if there have been changes of personnel on either side.

As part of the pre-poll check in you should cover:

• who the key contacts are from each side, and who can be contacted when the primary contacts are not available (including out-of-hours) to ensure that work progresses without unnecessary delay
• the timeline for all stages of the work to be delivered, including:
  • when you will provide data and other information to the contractor
  • when each round of proofs will be provided to you for each item being produced, and the deadline for you to undertake your checks and respond for each
  • the printing and fulfilment windows for each item, including when and how quality assurance checks will take place at each stage
  • the despatch window for each item, including likely delivery dates given the delivery service to be used and the quantities being despatched on each date
  • the management of files of additional electors/electors to be removed from the data (where applicable)
• any proposed use of sub-contractors; including in relation to the use of downstream access providers (DSAs) for the delivery of materials to electors
• the formats and communication channels to be used to provide information to suppliers (especially data from your EMS), share proofs and provide confirmation of receipt of data, items or sign-off of proofs etc. throughout the process, and for confirmation of despatch of items. This is important to agree in advance to support a clear audit trail of each stage of the process
• the exact specifications for each item being produced; items such as ballot papers must, by law, be printed in accordance with the directions for printing in the appendix to the relevant election rules. For example, you should check with your print supplier the maximum size of ballot papers that they can produce and what contingency arrangements will be in place should longer ballot papers be required
• how you will inform each other of any issues that arise, and the escalation process involved for decision making and resolution if needed

Once you have agreed the arrangements, you should produce a written document which contains all of the details and can be referred to throughout the process to ensure every stage is managed and delivered as per your mutually agreed specifications.

It is important to remember that the agreed deadlines will apply to both parties, so you will need to make sure that you carry out all required actions on the dates agreed to support the completion of the work to the agreed timetable.

For more information see our guidance quality assurance and proofing of election materials.

Unless you are planning to hand-deliver all of your election material, you will need to have early discussions with your mail delivery provider to finalise arrangements. Your focus should be to ensure that material is delivered to electors successfully and maximises the time available to them to receive the information and take action as necessary.

Some print suppliers use Royal Mail for the end to end delivery of mail, however some use downstream access (DSA) providers for the initial part of the distribution process. This involves the mail being collected and processed by a company other than Royal Mail, but then handed over to Royal Mail mail centres for final processing and delivery from local delivery offices.

Regardless of how the delivery of your mail is managed, it is important to retain an overview at all times as responsibility remains with you even where you outsource different processes.

You should discuss with your print suppliers to confirm whether they intend to use DSA providers as part of the process of delivering your election material, or whether items will be handed over directly to Royal Mail. This will help you understand the full delivery process and manage any issues should they arise.

If you have agreed with your supplier that DSA providers will be used as part of the despatch and delivery process, you should get updates from your supplier on the progress of the delivery throughout.

Managing delivery schedules

You should liaise with your print supplier to manage the delivery of materials and ensure that voters receive the material as soon as possible so that they have the maximum amount of time to act on the information.

In making these arrangements you should:

• agree and obtain formal confirmation on strict delivery schedules well in advance of the poll. For example, when the dispatch of election material will commence and last date of dispatch
• obtain postal dockets to confirm the number of documents dispatched and the dates of dispatch, for all issues

This will also help to identify any possible issues that may have arisen with regards to dispatch and feed into any subsequent evaluation of contractor performance, and enable you to provide information to voters on dates that they should expect to receive material.

For more information see our guidance on options for delivery of postal ballot packs.

Royal Mail

You should contact your Royal Mail account manager and continue to liaise with them on a regular basis.

At an early stage in your planning process, you should ensure that:

• any business reply licences you hold are up to date
• you obtain the estimated delivery window of election material based on the despatch dates and method of delivery/postal package chosen. This will help you to manage communication channels to voters in your area and assist in early detection of any issues encountered with the delivery of election material
• any postal voting arrangements will help to maximise the time available to postal voters to receive, complete and return their postal vote
• the correct postage will be included on any postal votes being sent to addresses outside the UK
• Royal Mail knows where and when to deliver your returned postal votes to a secure point, ready for processing; you may wish to consider a timed delivery

You will also need to consider whether to arrange for any final sweeps of postal votes and weigh up what the benefits of the sweep would be.

Voters and candidates should be confident that:

• elections are free from fraud
• everyone can safely take part in the election process
• 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 and security 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. It is also vital that candidates and campaigners can participate free from intimidation or risk.

You should put in place effective strategies for managing the safe delivery of electoral events and the prevention of electoral fraud from the outset. You will also need to be prepared to work with the police, including your police Election Single Point of Contact (SPOC), Force-Elected Official Adviser (FEOA), and prosecutors to subsequently investigate any allegations which might be made.

You should cover your approach to maintaining the security of the election and 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. For more information about dealing with integrity issues related to fraudulent registration or absent vote applications see our ERO guidance:

• Identifying suspicious registration applications
• Identifying suspicious absent vote applications

Offences

There are a number of electoral offences specified in electoral law. For more information about these offences see our guidance for candidates and agents.

Dealing with allegations of financial offences

Candidates and their agents, political parties and non-party campaigners, 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 the rules on spending.

Any queries on election spending should be referred to our Wales office.

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
• absent vote applications

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 the 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 there are specific elections which are likely to be particularly close and hard fought
• whether there are marginal seats, which would need only a relatively small swing in the number of votes to change control
• whether there are contests based on strong personal disagreements as well as political arguments
• where there is a highly mobile population with a frequent turnover of electors
• where there are electors who may be more vulnerable, for example because of low levels of literacy and/or English/Welsh language ability

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

Your plans should be developed in consultation with the relevant police Single Point of Contact (SPOC). Your police Election SPOC is your contact for election-related crime, including allegations of fraud. Your police Force Elected-Official Adviser (FEOA) is a dedicated police contact for raising security concerns and sharing any relevant intelligence involved any elected officials and candidates for those roles. For more information, see our guidance on working with your local police force. 

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 security and electoral integrity with stakeholders and electors, in order to support public confidence in the election
• how you plan to share candidate contact details with the FEOA to enable them to contact candidates and agents directly with updated security guidance. You should review your data protection policies and privacy notices to ensure these are fit for purpose
• mechanisms for monitoring indicators of possible electoral fraud and thresholds for action in response
• specific steps to deal with any safety concerns throughout the process such as:
  • if there is an immediate and direct threat to personal safety and/or the incident is currently ongoing and urgent, the candidate and/or their staff or family should call 999 as a priority
  • if the incident does require an urgent response but is not currently ongoing or an immediate threat, it is important to use the 101 service or Contact us | Police.uk. This is the easiest and quickest way to record incidents and obtain the allocation of appropriate resources and gain a reference number
  • neither the FEOA, nor election SPOC, is the right person to contact to record these incidents and may not even be on duty when they occur. They will be notified though, via internal processes. Both of these officers will be aware of the incidents and the election SPOC may well manage crimes of election fraud, but this is not part of the FEOA role
• 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 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.

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. 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 postal vote opening sessions, polling stations and the verification and count as part of your integrity planning and include them on your risk register. This covers the risks related to the secure storage of election materials such as ballot papers, as well as the wider security of everyone involved in election processes. As such security risks may vary within the electoral area and you may need to take a different approach in particular instances.

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.

You can find a template risk register in the planning section of our resource page.

Managing the security of electoral materials

You need to decide how the ballot papers and other materials will be kept secure during postal vote opening and at the verification and count, for example, by ensuring that they are never left unattended. Presiding Officers should follow instructions for the security of ballot papers set out in the polling station handbook.

You should liaise with your local police single point of contact (SPOC) as needed on your security measures, such as the most appropriate method for transporting and ensuring secure storage of ballot boxes and other materials.

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 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.1 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.

Managing the security of attendees

You should liaise with your SPOC to determine if any specific measures are required for any polling stations and/or at the count venue, based on risks identified locally.

You should have also factored into your planning and risk analysis the steps you need to put in place to ensure your duty of care towards any staff in attendance at election proceedings. 

All venues should have up to date lists of who is eligible to attend. When advising candidates and agents of details of events, you should include information about any entry requirements and any additional security measures put in place. Attendees should also be briefed on the requirements of the role they are performing, the standards of behaviour that are expected in doing so, and that you will be excluding attendees from the count venue if their behaviour interferes with the effective conduct of the count, including the declaration of the results. This should include any instructions relating to video or photography at electoral events and the sharing of images on social media, particularly where individuals and/or members of staff are identifiable.

You should also consider in advance how you will deal with any attendees who are disruptive during any proceedings, agree plans with relevant security or police officials as necessary and communicate this to attendees as part of your briefings. Where you think there is a need to contact police due to a disruptive individual at an electoral event, you should do so on 999.

You should brief candidates and agents about your security arrangements, so that they can have confidence in the security and integrity of the election. If you have made arrangements to share candidate contact details with the FEOA, you should advise candidates that the FEOA may contact them directly with security guidance updates and advice. 

For more information see our guidance on planning for postal vote opening, polling station voting, planning for the verification and count, and working with your local police force.

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

You should make contact with your 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 the SPOC, please contact our Wales office.

Your discussions should cover your plans for maintaining the integrity of the election and your mechanisms for identifying possible issues 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, take all necessary steps to ensure that police officers (which now can include 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 whether to undertake joint publicity work with the police to support the integrity of the election. For example, 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.

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 their 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 investigations

The police will investigate any allegations of electoral 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 CPS for consideration with a view to 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, which is also available to download from their website in English and Welsh.

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

The Code also makes it clear that if an RO consider 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.

As RO, 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 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.

You will also be required to provide information to the EMB for inclusion on the elections information platform.

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.

Your activity and messaging should aim to ensure that everyone who wants to vote has the information they need to be able 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. Any public awareness activity should be delivered equally in English and Welsh.

When planning your public awareness activity you should consider and document:

• the identification of your target audience
• the objectives and success measures of the activity
• 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 authorities

When you are required to publish notices you must post them online and in any other ways considered appropriate.1 This should include local authority offices, noticeboards, libraries and other public buildings.

In order to ensure that voters can receive the information they need, in an accessible format and within time for them to cast their vote, you should ensure that information on the poll, including the notice of election and the statement of persons and parties nominated and notice of poll, are easily accessible to voters, such as through the local authority website.

If you are making information available on your website you should ensure it is accessible to all voters. For example, if you are providing information in PDF format, you should be aware that if certain steps are not followed when creating PDFs they may not be compatible with screen readers and other assistive technologies. The UK Government has produced a guide to producing accessible PDFs. You could also speak to your authority’s equalities officer for advice.

You will be required to provide the EMB with copies of certain election notices including:

• Notice of election
• Statement of parties and persons nominated
• Notice of poll
• Situation of polling station and the description of voters entitled to vote there
• Declaration of result

for inclusion on the elections information platform. The EMB will provide information about the format and process for providing this information.

You should have robust proof-checking processes in place to ensure that there are no errors on the notices you are required to publish. Having robust proof checking processes in place could help detect any errors and avoid any potential data breaches before they occur.

Translation and formats of notices

You are required, where you consider it appropriate to do so, to ensure that notices are translated or provided in another format. You may produce them:2

• in Braille
• in languages other than English or Welsh
• using graphical representations
• in audio format
• using any other means of making information accessible

The nomination form and the ballot papers cannot be produced in any other language or format.3 However, both the enlarged hand-held and display copies of the ballot papers to be displayed in polling stations must have the instructions for voters printed at the top of the paper, and these words may be translated into languages other than English and Welsh.4

Data protection considerations

In accordance with data protection legislation, you will need to consider whether it is appropriate or necessary for the notices to remain published, on your websites or elsewhere, beyond the expiry of the petition period for that election. Where the notices serve specific purposes, 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 the notices, or remove the personal data contained in the notices, once the petition deadline for the 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 notices of election results, for example, you should retain these on your website as they are for public interest and historical and statistical purposes.

For more information, see our guidance on data protection.

Where is my polling station? is a common question in the run-up to polling day and on polling day itself.

The Electoral Management Board (EMB) is responsible for hosting and operating the elections information platform which will provide polling station and accessibility information, it will be searchable by postcode and electoral area. The EMB will provide information about the format and process for providing the information necessary to facilitate this. For more information see the EMB website.

In partnership with Democracy Club, we also provide a postcode search tool on our website. When voters enter their postcode they are shown where their polling station is, and who their candidates are. You could embed this tool on your own website, using the widget, or add a link to your website.

To facilitate this, we need you to send the polling station data for your area to Democracy Club. Once you have finalised your polling stations ahead of the election you can export the data from your EMS and email it to [email protected]. Detailed instructions are available for each supplier, if you need them.

We also provide your contact details in our postcode search tool. If your contact details change, we ask that you let us know as soon as possible so that we can update our records.

You are responsible for all aspects of the nominations process for the Senedd election.

Your project plan should include details on how you will engage with political parties, candidates and agents and how you manage the nomination process that you are responsible for.

You should determine what information on local process will be shared with parties, individual candidates and agents and decide how this information should be disseminated. The information should be provided in good time to enable candidates and agents to act on it.

Briefings

You should ensure that parties, individual candidates and agents are offered a briefing session before or at the start of the nomination period on the processes specific to standing at a Senedd election, including local arrangements, and addressing any past, current or expected issues you may be aware of. You should also hold an additional briefing session after the list of parties and individual candidates standing for election has been confirmed after the close of nominations.

As a minimum, your briefing should cover:

• the nomination process - including arrangements for electronic delivery
• the election process
• election spending
• accessing the electoral register
• equipment provided to polling station that makes voting easier for disabled people
• Code of Conduct for campaigners at Senedd elections

You will also need to decide how information about local arrangements will be provided. This will include information on the dates, times and venues for the key election processes including:

• postal vote issues and openings
• polling day
• the verification, count, calculation of results and allocation of seats

The briefings should allow for the fact that there may be people who have little or no knowledge of election rules and procedures or who have not involved themselves in elections for some time.

All briefing sessions should highlight the importance of following the election rules. You should also provide information on the standards of behaviour you expect from supporters in the area of the polling place on polling day.

We have produced a template presentation for political parties, individual candidates and agents at a Senedd election which is available on our website and which you may want to use at your briefings.

You can find the template briefing for candidates and agents in the planning section of our resource page.

Providing written information

You should ensure that political parties, individual candidates and election agents are also issued with written guidance on the election process and that the information is provided in good time to enable candidates and agents to act on it.

The purpose of providing written guidance is so that political parties, individual candidates and election agents have access to authoritative and comprehensive guidance for reference at any time to ensure that they have all the information they need to take part in an election.

Where appropriate, you can provide a link to the relevant information they need online, and it will be for you to ensure that this can be easily accessed and to do whatever is necessary to facilitate this.

Accessibility

You should ensure that political parties, individual candidates and election agents can easily access all the information they need in order to be able to participate in the election.

You should bear in mind potential 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 Welsh.

You should also consider that candidates and election 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 it available online for political parties, individual candidates and election 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 political parties, individual candidates and election 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 tailor approach and put the appropriate arrangements in place.

You are responsible for all aspects of the nomination process at a Senedd election.1 It is important to raise awareness of the availability of information for those wishing to stand for election through the provision of briefings and online or printed guidance, especially for those who have not made direct contact with you or your staff.

When providing information or briefing sessions about the nomination process you should ensure you include information on:

• relevant deadlines
• submission rules - including electronic delivery
• the use of commonly used names
• the completion of nomination papers including providing statement of party membership
• the use of party names, descriptions and emblems
• the methods for paying the deposit
• any informal checking process arrangements you have in place

You should provide information about how the process for delivering nomination papers electronically will work in practice in order to support the successful delivery of electronic nominations and manage expectations. You could provide the information from the electronic delivery statement and emphasise the importance of delivering only to the email address or online system provided and the risks of not doing so. You could also outline the arrangements for carrying out informal checks for nominations delivered electronically and the process for submitting election addresses to the EMB for publication.

Questions of eligibility or disqualification are for the candidate only and you should not give advice on such matters. The candidate should be directed to our guidance for candidates and agents in the first instance. Should they have any further concerns, you should advise them to seek their own legal advice.

Nomination packs

You should prepare nomination packs for political parties and individual candidates.

Nomination packs for political parties

The nomination pack for political parties should contain:

• a nomination form containing a certificate of authorisation to allow party list candidates to stand on behalf of a party and to request the use of an emblem
• a home address form
• a consent to nomination form
• a form for the Nominating Officer (or someone on their behalf) to give notice of appointment of an election agent
• forms for the election agent to give notice of appointment of sub-agents
• forms for the appointment of polling agents, postal voting agents and counting agents
• details of how the deposit should be paid, including information on acceptable methods of payment
• written guidance for candidates and agents covering key aspects of the electoral process, including the qualifications and disqualifications for election, the nominations process, campaigning dos and don’ts, accessing electoral proceedings and what happens after the declaration of the result
• details of any local arrangements, such as the arrangements for the opening of postal votes, the poll and the count
• a copy of the Code of Conduct for Campaigners at Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru, Scottish council and Welsh local elections
• details of how to obtain a copy of the electoral register and the absent voters’ lists, and forms to make such requests with information on where to send these request forms to. You should highlight that the information contained in the electoral register and absent voting lists may only be used in accordance with the Representation of the People Regulations 2001 and in accordance with data protection legislation
• any other relevant information

For more information see our guidance for candidates and agents at a Senedd election.

We have also produced a set of nomination papers that you can include in your nomination packs.

You can find nomination packs in the planning section of our resource page.

Nomination packs for individual candidates

The nomination pack for individual candidates should contain:

• a nomination form
• a home address form
• a consent to nomination form
• a form for the candidate (or someone on their behalf) to give notice of appointment of an election agent
• forms for the election agent to give notice of the appointment of sub-agents
• forms for the appointment of polling agents, postal voting agents and counting agents
• details of how the deposit should be paid, including information on acceptable methods of payment
• written guidance for candidates and agents covering key aspects of the electoral process, including the qualifications and disqualifications for election, the nominations process, campaigning dos and don’ts, accessing electoral proceedings and what happens after the declaration of the result
• a copy of the Code of Conduct for Campaigners at Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru, Scottish council and Welsh local elections
• details of any local arrangements, such as the arrangements for the opening of postal votes, the poll and the count
• details of how to obtain a copy of the electoral register and the absent voters’ lists, and forms to make such requests with information on where to send these request forms to. You should highlight that the information contained in the electoral register and absent voting lists may only be used in accordance with the Representation of the People Regulations 2001 and in accordance with data protection legislation
• any other relevant information

You can find nomination packs in the planning section of our resource page.

You will need to decide at any early stage how you expect to manage the process in practice. This information will need to be included on the electronic delivery statement included on the notice of election.

This section of guidance covers the planning you will need to do to facilitate the electronic delivery of nominations including the practical set-up of the options available to you.

You must ensure that candidates are able to submit nominations electronically.1 You will need to set out in both the electronic delivery statement and any briefings for candidates and agents the:

• methods available to submit electronically such as submission to an email address or any other online submission
• the process and any instructions for submitting nominations by email or online
• the details of who can be contacted should any support be needed

Submission of nominations by email

The use of email is likely to be accessible to most candidates and agents.

There are some practical elements to think about when planning how the management of submission of nominations via email would work in practice:

• whether there is a need to set up specific email accounts for both:
  • the formal submission of completed nomination papers
  • the management of any nomination specific queries during the nomination period
• who would have access to each email account

You will need to put processes in place to monitor any email addresses that could be associated with the RO or electoral services to which nomination papers could be sent in error. This will ensure that any papers received can be identified quickly and action taken to try to contact the candidate.

Spam or junk mail folders should be checked regularly in case any emails have arrived there in error.

You should also consider how to make other teams across the council aware that they should contact you as soon as possible if they receive any emails regarding the nominations process.

IT support required to manage the submission of nominations by email

You should liaise with IT services to ensure that you have the support and any additional resource you need to manage the submission of nominations by email.

This support could include:

• the setting up of separate email accounts for both formal submissions and informal checks
• the management of permissions to these accounts to ensure they are secure
• ensuring that there is sufficient storage capacity on email inboxes
• having contingency plans in place including disaster recovery processes which cover what would happen should there be an IT outage or similar during the nomination period and particularly close to the deadline for receipt of nominations

Additionally, you will need to discuss any data protection considerations with your Data Protection Officer, to ensure that you have a clear process in place for the processing of data received by email, and its secure storage in line with your statutory duties and data retention policies.

Submission of nominations via online system

You may also allow nominations to be submitted electronically via a dedicated online system.

Using an online system to manage the submission of nominations may result in a reduction in the amount of emails that need to be processed due to the ability to input nomination information directly onto an online system instead.

However, there are a number of things to consider in both making your decision as to whether to offer an online system, and how it would be managed in practice.

IT support required to set up an online nominations system

Using the expertise of your IT team, you could consider setting up a bespoke system in-house. The system will need to be user-friendly and should include clear instructions on how to use it.

Alternatively, you could consider using an external provider to deliver the system. There may be opportunities to work with other ROs in the procurement and establishment of an online system for the submission of nominations.

Regardless of whether any online nominations system is produced in-house or externally, you will need to consider:

• the resource and/or financial implications involved
• the timeframe available for the establishment of a new system

It is important that you are able to ensure that any online system is fully tested and operational in good time before the beginning of the nominations period.

Maintaining a clear audit-trail of nominations formally delivered electronically

You should have a process in place for recording any communications from candidates and agents by phone or in person that relate to a nomination that is subsequently submitted by email or through any online system.

You should ensure that whatever you put in place to enable the electronic submission of nominations it is able to provide a clear audit trail of when a nomination has been formally delivered.

If you use a dedicated email address for the formal delivery stage of the nomination process, you could utilise auto-reply functionality to confirm receipt of the email but clarify that the nomination is not yet determined. The auto reply could also confirm the next steps in the process to candidates and agents.

If you are using an online system you will need to be able to differentiate between nominations that are in progress or going through informal checks, and those which have been formally submitted.

You will need to consider whether any technical support is needed to ensure that a clear-audit trail of is set up for the processes is in place. There must be a process in place for recording the exact time that nominations are received by email or any other online system.2

You will also need to decide on a process for recording your decisions regarding the validity of nominations submitted electronically and whether this is done online or using print-outs of the papers or similar.

You will need to have a plan in place for the secure storage of nomination papers submitted electronically and make them available for inspection if requested.

Individual candidates are entitled to a free copy of the full register for the constituency they are standing in on written request once they officially become a candidate. The earliest date someone can officially become a candidate is the date of dissolution of the Senedd. A person officially becomes a candidate on this day if on or before this date they or others have already declared them as a candidate.1

In the case of a party which submits a list of candidates, the election agent for the party list is entitled to a copy of the full register.

As part of your plans for engaging with political parties, individual candidates and agents and supporting their participation in the elections, you will need to determine how information about local arrangements will be provided to them.

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

• postal vote issue and openings
• polling day
• equipment provided to polling stations to make voting easier for disabled voters
• the verification and count

Your briefing session(s) should also highlight any security arrangements that you have put in place in consultation with the police, including your plans to share candidate email/phone number contact detail with your local Force Elected-Official Adviser (FEOA) to help maintain candidate safety. You should advise candidates of how their contact details will be used and provide an opportunity to opt out if necessary. 

You should also invite your police single point of contact (SPOC) and FEOA to attend any briefing sessions, or to provide written material that you can provide to candidates and agents.

Additional security guidance for candidates and agents is available at Security guidance for elections - GOV.UK.

You should also cover what standards of behaviour you expect from supporters in the area of the polling place on polling day and during the verification and count.

The College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice have produced guidance on maintaining order and preventing undue influence outside polling stations. This document is designed to help the police think about how best to approach the issue of policing polling stations and offers some practical steps to help them reduce the likelihood of problems arising and deal with any that occur. Although it is aimed at the SPOC it may also be of use to you, particularly in communicating to candidates and agents the standards of behaviour expected from supporters in the area of the polling place. It should be read in conjunction with the campaigning outside polling places section of the Code of Conduct for Campaigners at Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru, Scottish council and Welsh local elections.

Parties and candidates are required by law to follow certain rules regarding:

• how much they can spend
• who they can accept donations from
• what they must report after the election

We have produced guidance on spending and donations which you can use to provide parties, candidates and agents with information on spending returns and declarations in order to enable them to meet their reporting requirements.

We have produced guidance on spending and donations for candidates and agents and for political parties.

Our template presentation for candidates and agents also contains guidance on spending and donations.

You can find the briefing for candidates and agents, and a factsheet on spending and donations in the planning section of our resource page.

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 in place for communications relating to the poll in the constituency to be followed by you and, in the case of a constituency that covers more than one local authority, the relevant staff at any other local authorities, and their respective communications team(s) to respond effectively to any issues that arise.

Your arrangements for working with the media should include:

• processes for 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 EMB
• 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 the 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
• 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.

You can find tips on managing the media at the count in the planning section of our resource page.

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 collation and calculation of results and the allocation of seats

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 RO 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 contact the Commission’s Wales office.

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

It is vital to the delivery of the election that voters can receive the information they need, without errors, in an accessible format and within time for them to take necessary action in relation to their vote. 

This guidance provides an overview of the legal requirements relating to poll cards, postal vote stationery and ballot papers, and of the areas where you have discretion regarding design and the information to be included on these materials. 

It also includes information to help you quality-assure the process of producing voter materials, including guidance on proof-checking and on working with suppliers and contractors. 

You are responsible for sending electors and their proxies an official poll card for the Senedd elections.1

Poll cards must be in the prescribed form or a form to like effect. 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.

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

Poll cards should be sent to electors and their proxies as soon as practicable after the publication of the notice of election.3 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. 

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

Subsequent issues of poll cards

EROs must publish two interim election notices of alteration before publishing the final election notice of alteration 5 working days before the poll.4 These notices support the prompt dispatch of poll cards to those electors who have applied to register close to the registration deadline. The first interim notice of alteration must be published on the last day for delivery of nomination papers, which is 19 working days before the poll.5  

If you are not also the Electoral Registration Officer (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 18 and 6 working days before the poll (inclusive).6 The EMB may direct or recommend when the second interim notice should be published.

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

For more information on interim notices see our ERO guidance. 

For more information see our guidance on poll card delivery.

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. The EMB may make directions or recommendations for the production of postal vote stationery and the issuing of postal votes. 

For more information to support your decision-making on outsourcing see our guidance on managing contractors and suppliers. 

Contents of postal ballot pack

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

• 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)
• the ballot paper
• the postal voting statement

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

• 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 papers to be sent to and which is shown in the postal voters’ list or the proxy postal voters list.1

To preserve the secrecy of the ballot, you must provide two separate envelopes 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 amlen papur pleidleisio and 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 the return address.

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.

Postal ballot packs should, therefore, be sent to anonymously registered electors in a plain outgoing envelope. 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.3

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 your 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 must follow this precisely.1

The EMB may direct or recommend what the colour of the ballot paper should be.

For more information see our guidance on the design of ballot papers.

Postal voting statement 

The postal voting statement is set out in the legislation and must be produced in the prescribed form.2 The postal voting statement must include:

• the elector’s name (unless they are an anonymous elector)
• the voter’s name (where this differs from the elector’s name because the elector is voting by proxy)
• the number of the ballot paper being issued with the statement.

You must produce different forms of the postal voting statement for anonymous electors and for those who have been granted a waiver.3 The postal voting statement for anonymous electors must not show the name of the elector.4  

Where an elector has been granted a waiver by the ERO, you must omit the signature box and any reference to signing the form in the instructions to voters.5

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 consider providing 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.

You must provide to postal voters information as appropriate on how to obtain instructions in alternative formats, e.g. alternative languages, braille, and audio.6

As part of these instructions, you should include information explaining the personal nature of the vote, setting out that it is secret and that anyone interfering with the voter marking their vote would be committing an offence. You should also include information on how to report any concerns or suspected instance of electoral fraud.

You are responsible for the production of the ballot papers for the election in your constituency. 

You have a legal duty to follow precisely the design and print specifications of ballot papers prescribed in legislation.1

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.

You should ensure that you check with your print supplier at an early stage to establish the maximum size of the ballot paper 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 papers 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

In your early discussions with your print supplier, you must carefully consider the number of ballot papers that will need to be printed to allow you to allocate a sufficient number of ballot papers to polling stations and issue postal ballot packs. This will also enable sufficient paper stocks to be procured.

You should base your print-run on 100% turnout of eligible electors. There are significant risks attached to printing ballot papers based on lower turnout levels. For example, if you start running out of ballot papers on polling day it will be more difficult at that stage to print additional ballot papers and send these to the affected polling stations in a timely manner. 

If you decide for any reason not to print, as a minimum, ballot papers based on 100% turnout of eligible electorate, you should carefully assess the risks. The EMB may provide guidance or direction on this matter.

As part of your risk assessment you should consider:

• projected turnout – taking into account the potential for late engagement and interest in the elections. As a minimum you should assume that the turnout will be not less than the turnout at the last equivalent polls
• the particular context of these polls
• any local or national issues which may affect turnout
• whether having a stock of additional ballot papers ready for rapid delivery to polling stations is preferable, for example, printing a minimum of 100% of ballot papers but not issuing 100% of printed ballot papers to polling stations

You should also take steps to ensure that additional ballot papers can be printed at short notice if required and decide how you should brief polling station staff should this situation occur. 

The ballot paper must contain:1

• the names or descriptions of the political parties together with the names of the candidates included on those parties’ lists and the word Wales, Welsh, Cymru or Cymreig if a political party has chosen to use it in the registered party name
• the names of the individual candidates together with the words independent / annibynnol as appropriate

Candidate names2

The party and individual candidates must appear on the ballot paper in the order that they are listed in the statement of parties and persons nominated and their relevant details must be printed in accordance with the directions for printing.3

Individual 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, other names must be in lower case with only the initial as a capital.

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. 

Party list candidate names must appear in smaller type than the name of the party itself in lower case with only the initial shown in capitals. 

Emblems4  

Party list submissions can request the use of a party emblem on the ballot paper. In these cases 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.

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

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

Where possible, more than one person should check each set of proofs before approving them to ensure that errors are spotted. This can mitigate the risk of errors when turning around a large number of proofs in a short timeframe.

You should discuss with your suppliers the most efficient way that checks can be carried out, to ensure that the quality assurance processes have been completed to your satisfaction. This may involve checking materials in person, by attending the premises of your supplier, or using technology to carry out checks remotely. 

You may wish to use a combination of these approaches to prevent any delays with voter materials being issued and dispatched. 

Some suppliers may 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 dispatched from your premises.

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

Checking base text

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, suppliers may produce your proofs from templates used for previous polls. 

Checking live proofs

You should check 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.

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. You should check that all the information is accurate and also that the election materials comply with all legislative requirements.

Checks should include items that have smaller print runs too, such as tendered ballot papers, postal proxies, or additional postal vote print runs the initial data files were provided.

You need to decide how many items will be checked for each item/print-run/fill. 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.

Checks of live proof stage will allow staff to check that the print run reflects the latest approved and highlight if any of the signed-off proofs have been inadvertently altered and ensure that there is no bleeding of ink and that the print quality is consistently good.

You are likely to have many different sets of proofs for the same item. You should check the variable text on each set of proofs is correct. It is helpful to have a spreadsheet of all the variable text per version to check against. You should proof any spreadsheets against original data, such as nomination papers. This could include:

• a list of all of your contested elections
• the number of vacancies per election
• candidate names, address or relevant area information, descriptions and emblems

It is important to pay particular attention to emblems as many may look similar.

You should keep an audit trail of the checks that have been undertaken, which you can refer back to should any issues subsequently arise.

Guidance to support your staff with proof checking election materials should include instructions to check that:

• all details are spelt correctly
• electors’ names and addresses are accurate and match the electoral register/absent voting lists
• materials being sent to electors are correct for them (e.g. the ballot paper is for their electoral area; postal proxies are being sent postal proxy poll cards)
• correct deadlines are included where relevant (e.g. for postal/proxy applications on poll cards)
• where a form is prescribed, that it meets the prescribed requirements
• any instructions included are for the correct election and voting system

For ballot papers, you should also check that:

• the directions for printing have been followed
• the official mark and unique identifying mark are correct1
• the ballot papers include the details of all validly nominated parties and individual candidates for the particular electoral area; including that:
  • candidate names (or commonly used name(s) where relevant) are correct
  • where relevant, party names, descriptions and emblems are correct and as registered on the Commission’s register of political parties and include the word Wales, Welsh, Cymru or Cymreig if the party has chosen to use it
  • instructions at the top of the ballot paper is correct 

The contents of the postal vote pack are prescribed and you should ensure that all the relevant details have been included on those materials. You should also check that the postal voting statement(s) include:

• the correct ballot number(s) are printed
• the voting instructions are the correct ones for the electoral area 

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

Quality assurance checks should be conducted as soon as possible to prevent any delays to issue and dispatch.

Checking filled postal vote packs before dispatch

Quality assurance checks of filled postal ballot packs should include that:

• ballot paper and PVS number(s) align
• personalised name/address information appears as expected in windows
• each pack contains the correct items (e.g. the correct ballot papers and reply envelope are included)

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

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

For more information see our guidance on quality assurance and proof checking of election materials and quality assuring the issuing process.

Checking ballot paper books before allocation

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

• the first and last ballot paper in every book
• the ballot paper numbers in each book or packet run sequentially
• every detail on the ballot paper is spelt correctly
• all party names / descriptions have been printed in the line for the correct party list
• every emblem has been validly requested, has been included beside the correct party list and matches the Commission’s register
• 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 must ensure the security of ballot papers during production, delivery, and storage. Once the official mark is printed on the ballot papers, they are effectively live. 

Regardless of whether you have outsourced your printing or are printing in-house, in order to ensure that voters can have confidence in the process, your security arrangements should prevent unauthorised access to or use of the ballot papers.

These restrictions should apply during all stages of the production process and storage between printing and the poll.

For more information see our guidance on planning for ballot paper security.
 

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

You must publish the notice of election for the constituency by not later than 25 working days before polling day.1
  
The EMB must also publish each notice of election on the elections information platform. They will provide information to you on what data you will need to provide, and the format required. The EMB may also direct or recommend when the notice of election should be published. For more information see the EMB website.

The notice of election must include the following:2

• the place or places and the times at which nomination papers may be obtained and information about how and when nomination papers may be obtained online
• the place or places and the times for the delivery of nomination papers
• an electronic delivery statement
• where you have decided to accept electronic payments, the arrangements for electronic payment of deposits
• the date of the poll if the election is contested
• the date by which applications for absent votes (including emergency proxies) and any cancellation or changes to existing absent voting arrangements must reach the ERO in order to be effective for the election

The notice should also include the date by which applications for registration must reach the ERO in order to be effective for the election.

The address(es) given for the delivery of nomination papers should be exact and include any room number in your offices. You should inform all reception staff at offices of the building and other connected buildings that they should not take receipt of nomination papers.

Electronic delivery statement

The electronic delivery statement included on the notice of election contains all of the information that parties and individual candidates need to be able to submit nominations electronically. Our guidance on the content of the electronic delivery statement has more information.

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

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

For anonymous electors, you must send their poll card 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.

The EMB may direct or recommend when poll cards are dispatched. Otherwise you will need to determine the optimum distribution date for poll cards and should focus on when electors can expect to receive their poll cards.

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

Delivery by hand

If you decide to 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 their 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 constituency 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 are delivering 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 constituency and to agreed timeframes. If possible, you should have arrangements in place to track deliveries in order 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.

You are responsible for the administration of the nominations process for your constituency at the Senedd election, which supports candidates to stand for election and enables them to have confidence in the management of the elections.

The following guidance is designed to support you in the decisions you will need to take to manage the nomination process efficiently and effectively. It includes information on the requirements for nomination including candidate details, deposits and methods of delivery, guidance to support the processing and determining of nominations, and guidance on the processes to be followed after the close of nominations such as the publishing of official notices. It also includes information on the actions required following the death of a candidate.

Providing information on the nomination process to candidates and agents

There may be new or less experienced political parties, candidates and agents who are unfamiliar with the practices and processes of standing for election and who will need your support to be able to participate effectively.
 
As part of your preparations for the polls, you will have put plans in place to ensure that you offer all potential parties, candidates and agents a briefing session before or at the start of the nomination period, and written guidance on the election process in good time to enable them to act on it. For more information about what the briefings and written information should include, and links to template briefings, see our guidance on providing information to political parties, candidates and agents.

We have produced videos for candidates and agents at Senedd elections to assist with completion of their nomination papers. These resources are intended to complement your briefings and written support to candidates and agents. You may share these links with prospective candidates and agents in your area as your see fit.

Completing your nomination papers | Guidance for Senedd individual candidates
Completing the nomination papers | Guidance for Senedd party list nominating officers

Party list candidates

A registered party and each candidate included on the party list are deemed to be validly nominated if you have received the necessary deposit and the following completed forms, by 4pm, 19 working days before the poll:

• the party nomination paper1  
• a certificate authorising the use of the party name or a registered description which includes a request to use one of the party’s registered emblems (if desired)2     
• a home address form for each candidate on the party list3  
• a consent to nomination for each candidate on the party list4  

The party can submit a list of up to 8 candidates to stand in a constituency.

Any party standing at the election must be registered on the Commission’s register of political parties at http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk and be listed as allowed to field candidates in Wales.5

Individual candidates

An individual candidate is deemed to be validly nominated if you have received the deposit and the following completed forms, by 4pm, 19 working days before the poll:

• an individual nomination paper6  
• a home address form7  
• a consent to nomination8

Production of nomination papers

Nomination forms can only be produced in English and Welsh, in the prescribed form or a form to like effect and not in any alternative languages or formats.9 You must supply on request to any person as many nomination forms as they require.10
 
Information should be included with any packs sent out, signposting the information about the arrangements for delivering nomination papers by email or online. For example, you could include wording making it clear that nomination papers may be delivered electronically but can only be accepted if the delivery meets the specific requirements as set out in the electronic delivery statement as to form and delivery method.
 
We have produced a set of nomination papers, which includes the forms that you can provide to anyone who requests them.
 
Individual candidates and party list candidates do not have to use the nomination forms that you have produced and supplied,11 but the form must be as prescribed in the legislation or a form to like effect.
 
We have also produced a nominations checklist which sets out what you need to consider and specific things to look out for when determining a nomination.

You can find nominations packs and nomination checklists in the nominations section of our resource page.

You will need to provide detail about the arrangements you have put in place for the management of electronic nominations on an electronic delivery statement. These arrangements must be included with the notice of election.

Nomination papers may be delivered electronically as per the arrangements set out on the statement by either:1

• being sent electronically to an email address 
• submission online 

You should specify any specific requirements you have for submission electronically on the electronic delivery statement. For example, the specific email address(es) that must be used, any advice on how emails should be labelled or any requirements regarding format of email attachments etc.

For more information see our guidance on planning for the management of electronic nominations.

We have produced a template notice of election containing the electronic delivery statement which highlights some of the information that you should consider including.

You can find this this template notice of election in the nominations section of our resource page.

The full name for each party list candidate must be included on the nomination form, surname first, followed by all of their other names in full.1
    
An individual candidate must state their full name on their individual nomination form, surname first, followed by all of their other names in full.2

Prefixes and suffixes

The nomination form does not prescribe a space for prefixes or suffixes.

Candidates and parties should be advised not to use prefixes such as Mr, Mrs, Dr or Cllr, or suffixes such as OBE or MBA as part of their full name. If a prefix or suffix is included as part of the actual name, the nomination form would not be invalid as a result, but the prefix or suffix should not be transferred to the statement of parties and persons nominated.
  
If a candidate has a prefix or suffix as part of their actual name, you should inform the party, individual candidate and their agent that it will not appear on the statement of parties and persons nominated (as appropriate) or the ballot paper, but that their nomination has not been affected.

The only exception to this is where a prefix or suffix has been included as part of a commonly used name and that is how the candidate claims to be commonly known.

Where a party list candidate or an individual candidate commonly uses a name that is different in any respect from their actual names or where they use one or more forenames or their surname in a different way from the way they are stated on their nomination form they can ask for their commonly used name(s) to be used instead of their actual name.1
    
A candidate can request to use a commonly used forename, surname or both. A candidate may also use initials as part of their commonly used name if they are commonly known by them.
 
For example, they may be known by their abbreviated name Andy, rather than their full first name Andrew. In that case, they can write ‘Andy’ into the commonly used forename box on the nomination form if they would rather that name appear on the ballot paper.

In another example, if their actual name is Andrew John Smith but they are commonly known as John Smith, they can request that the name John Smith appear on the ballot paper.
  
A candidate with a hyphenated surname may choose to use one part of their surname if this is how they are commonly known. For example, in the case of Andrew Smith-Roberts, he could use Andrew Roberts or Andrew Smith (if either was the name by which he is commonly known).

This table sets out a non-exhaustive list of potential variations for commonly used names:

Decisions on Commonly Used Names

It is not for you to decide whether the commonly used name is a name that the candidate commonly uses or whether it meets the legal requirements. The law requires you to take whatever has been entered in the commonly used name box at face value and to accept it as the candidate’s commonly used name.

The only grounds you have in law for rejecting a commonly used name is that you consider that either:2  

• its use may be likely to mislead or confuse electors
• it is obscene or offensive

It is the party’s or individual candidate’s responsibility to ensure that they have completed their nomination in accordance with the law and to be satisfied that the given commonly used name is a name that the candidate genuinely commonly uses.

In the course of providing informal advice, you may wish to draw the Nominating Officer's or candidate’s attention to our guidance for candidates and agents on commonly used names.

The table below contains a number of worked examples of various combinations of commonly used names and how this would affect the appearance of a party list or individual candidate’s name on the statement of parties and persons nominated (as appropriate).

If either the commonly used forenames or commonly used surname box is left blank, then the candidate’s actual forenames or surname, depending on which commonly used name box has been left blank, will go on the statement of parties and persons nominated and on the ballot paper.
 
You should advise the party and individual candidate’s that the use of commonly used names applies to the statement of parties and persons nominated, the notice of election agents (where a candidate is acting as the election agent) and the ballot paper. The candidate’s actual name should appear on any documents that are required to show the candidate’s name, such as the imprint and candidate’s spending returns.
 
You may also use commonly used names when declaring the result and when publishing the notice of result where the statement of parties and persons nominated shows that a candidate uses a commonly used name. You should advise all parties and individual candidates if you plan to use commonly used names in this way.

If you refuse the use of a commonly used name, the validity of the nomination form remains unaffected. Instead, the effect is that the candidate's full name will appear on the statement of parties and persons nominated (as appropriate), and the ballot paper. This should be made clear to parties, individual candidates, and agents and you must write to the candidate setting out the reasons for refusing to allow the use of the commonly used name.1

A party list nomination form must be subscribed by the nominating officer of the registered party or a person authorised in writing by the nominating officer.1
 
A nomination form for an individual candidate must be subscribed by one person, which can be the candidate themselves. If the subscriber is not the candidate that individual must also provide their full name and address.2

All candidates are required to complete and submit a home address form with the nomination form, by the close of nominations.1 The form used must be in the prescribed form (or a form to like effect).2
  
The candidate must state their full name and home address in full on the home address form. If a candidate includes a commonly used name on their nomination form, the home address form must also include the commonly used name.3
 
The candidate’s home address:

• must be completed in full
• must not contain abbreviations
• must be their current home address 
• must not be a business address (unless the candidate runs a business from their home)  

If any detail of the home address is wrong or omitted, the nomination is not automatically invalid if the description of the place is such as to be commonly understood.

Candidates who don’t want their home address to be published

A candidate may choose for their home address not to be published on the statement of parties and persons nominated.4   

In this case the home address form must contain:5

• a statement, signed by the candidate, which states that their home address must not be made public 
• the candidate’s full name and commonly used name (if applicable) and home address 
• if the candidate’s home address is in the UK, the relevant area
  • if their home address is in Wales, the relevant areas is the Senedd constituency in which their home address is located, 
  • if their address is outside Wales, the relevant area is the UK Parliamentary constituency in which their home address is located
• if their home address is outside of the UK, the name of the country in which their home address is situated

All party list and individual candidates must formally consent to their nomination and deliver their consent by the deadline for delivery of nomination papers, which is 4pm, 19 working days before the poll.1
  
A candidate’s consent to nomination must be in the prescribed form in English or Welsh.2 You may accept delivery of the consent to nomination by hand to one of the places specified in the notice of election or via the arrangements set out in the electronic delivery statement.3

The candidate’s consent must form must include:4

• the candidate’s date of birth
• an address within the relevant area,5 that will be deemed as the candidate’s office in the event they become their own agent if none is appointed. The relevant area is the constituency or an adjoining constituency or in a county or county borough which is partly comprised in or adjoins the constituency
• the name of a local authority area in Wales in which the candidate is registered as a local government elector
• a statement that to the best of their knowledge and belief they are not disqualified under section 16(A1) of the 2006 Government of Wales Act from being a Member of the Senedd
• a statement of party membership
• in the case of an individual candidate a statement that that they are not, for a Senedd election held on the same day:
  • a party list candidate in the same Senedd constituency
  • an individual candidate in any other Senedd constituency
  • a party list candidate in any other Senedd constituency
• in the case of a candidate on a registered party’s list a statement that they are not, for a Senedd election held on the same day:
  • an individual candidate in the same Senedd constituency
  • an individual candidate for any other Senedd constituency
  • a party list candidate in any other Senedd constituency 

The consent must be signed and dated by the candidate and the date must be on or within one month before the last day for the delivery of nomination papers.6
    
If a consent form for a particular candidate on a party list is not received by you by 4pm 19 working days before poll you must remove that person from the party list, but the party’s list nomination is not invalidated.7

Signature of a witness

The candidate’s consent to nomination must also be attested by a witness.8 The witness should be present when the candidate signs their declaration. There are no restrictions on who can be a witness.  

For consents delivered electronically, an electronic signature could take the form of a typed name in the space for a signature for example.  

Each party list and individual candidate must include a statement of party membership on their consent to nomination.1
  
It must state whether the candidate has been a member of any political party, other than the party on whose list they are standing (where appropriate), at any time during the relevant period.2
     
The relevant period is defined as the 12 months ending with the day on which the notice of election is published.3 If the candidate has been a member of one or more political parties within the relevant period, other than the one for which they are standing, they must include on the statement:4

• the name(s) of the other political party(ies) they have been a member of
• the dates during the relevant period they have been a member of the other political party(ties)

It is an offence for any candidate to knowingly fail to include a statement of party membership with their consent to nomination paper.5
  
The information provided on the statement of party membership will be included on the statement of parties and persons nominated and will be published by you.

You should remind any person delivering the nomination papers that it is a criminal offence to provide a false statement on nomination papers. If the nomination form includes a commonly used name, you should highlight that the offence also applies if a commonly used name is given that the candidate does not actually commonly use. You may warn candidates and parties that the penalty for a false statement is an unlimited fine and/or six month’s imprisonment.

You should not give advice on questions of candidates’ eligibility or disqualification but should direct them to our guidance for candidates and agents in the first instance. You should advise them to seek their own legal advice should they have any further concerns.

Individual candidates standing for election

Individual candidates may only use the description Independent and/or Annibynnol, or leave the description blank.1

Party list candidates

Each party nomination form must include either:2  

• the registered party name (or names) of a registered political party - if they want to use a registered party name that does not include Wales, Welsh, Cymru or Cymreig then the registered party name may be supplemented with Wales, Welsh, Cymru or Cymreig in the description box on the nomination paper3
• one of the descriptions the party has registered with the Commission

Use of party names and party descriptions

To stand a party list for election, a political party must be a qualifying political party.4
 
A qualifying political party is one that is registered on the Commission’s register of political parties at http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk and is listed as allowed to field candidates in Wales.5
  
The party will need to submit a certificate of authorisation, authorising the use of the registered party name or a registered description on the ballot paper.6
   
Political parties can register up to 12 descriptions and the Welsh translations of those descriptions.

You must check that the party name or description as given on the nomination form is registered on the Commission’s register of political parties and matches it exactly (not including any prefix of Welsh/Cymraeg or suffix Wales/Cymru.) If it does not, you must reject that nomination.7
    
Even if a registered party is well known, it is vital to check the register of political parties for the exact details of the party as registered with the Commission.

A party may use either the English version, Welsh version or both versions of either the party name or a description as long as they are registered with the Commission.

If the registered party name does not already include Wales / Welsh / Cymru / Cymreig then the candidate may choose to supplement the registered party name as given on the certificate with Wales / Welsh / Cymru / Cymreig.8
  
Translations of party names are listed on the website under alternative name and translations of descriptions are listed to the right of the description under translation(s). If a translation of a party name is not listed, or a translation is not recorded against a description, then a translation is not registered and cannot be used.
 
For the purposes of maintaining a clear audit trail and in case of any future challenges, you should print a copy of the relevant part of the Commission’s register of political parties showing the descriptions and party name at the time of your determination.

Certificate of authorisation

If a party wishes to use a party name or description, they must provide a certificate of authorisation. The certificate of authorisation is prescribed and must be combined with the party nomination form.9 The description must be authorised by the party’s Nominating Officer10 (or someone appointed in writing by the Nominating Officer).

You can check who the Nominating Officer for a particular party is by referring to the Commission’s register of political parties.

Political parties can also register up to three emblems.

If a party submitting a party list nomination wants a registered emblem of the party to appear on the ballot paper against the party’s name, the request must be made on the certificate of authorisation.1
  
If a party has more than one registered emblem, any request for an emblem should specify which one to use. If the emblem is not specified, or the registered party changes or removes the emblem from the register of political parties after the nomination papers have been submitted but before the close of nominations, you should try to contact the Nominating Officer (or the person acting on their behalf) as appropriate and ask them to select one. You should also tell them that if they do not select a particular emblem before the close of nominations, you will not be able to print an emblem against the party’s name on the ballot paper.

The Nominating Officer (or someone authorised to act on their behalf) may provide a high-resolution copy of the emblem for use in the printing of ballot papers, or the party may request that you download the emblem from our website. You must 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 set by the directions for printing.  When adding a party emblem to a ballot paper, the shape of the emblem should not be altered. 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.

A .zip file of emblem images will be available on our website and can be used by your printer to prepare ballot papers. However, it is the information on our register of political parties that should be used for confirming which emblem to print.

Our register of parties contains up-to-date information about political parties, registered descriptions and emblems, and shows which names, descriptions and emblems are currently registered for each party.

Changes up to the publication of the notice of election

Removals or substitution of any registered descriptions may take effect up to and including the day before the actual date of publication of the notice of election for any particular election.
 
It is important to note that this is not the last day for publication of the notice of election but the actual day of publication.1
 
Once the notice of election is published any changes or deletions to any party descriptions do not apply for that election.2
 
For example, if you decide to publish your notice of election before the last day that the notice must be published by law, it is possible that a nomination may be submitted which bears a registered party description that no longer appears on the register of political parties.
 
If the deletion of the description has taken effect after you have published your notice of election but before the last day for publication of notice of election, the deletion does not apply to your election and the old description is still valid. In any such circumstances you can check with the Commission’s party registration team whether or not the submitted party description applies for your election.3

Changes up to two working days before the final day for delivery of nomination papers

You should also note that political parties may change their registered party name and emblems, and add any new description if they previously had registered fewer than 12 descriptions, at any time until two working days before the final day for delivery of nominations for that election.4

New parties must also be registered two working days before the final day for delivery of nominations for that election, in order to use names, descriptions and emblems at that poll.
 
The table below sets out the deadlines for making changes to the register of political parties in the run up to a poll. After that point, any changes or deletions to any party descriptions do not apply for that election.5

Party description – not yet registered

Where a party attempts to submit a nomination form bearing a description that has yet to be registered, you should advise the candidate or party (as appropriate) not to formally submit the form, but to take it back and submit it once the description has been successfully registered.
 
If a candidate or party (as appropriate) formally submits their nomination form with a description that is not yet registered, you must determine the nomination invalid on the basis that, when the determination is made, the description provided does not match any registered with the Commission.9
  
You may wish to contact the Commission’s party registration team for confirmation that a description is not yet registered before making your determination.

An individual candidate is not validly nominated unless £500 is deposited with you by the close of nominations.1
 
A registered political party and each of the party list candidates it has submitted is not validly nominated unless the deposit is deposited with you by the close of nominations.2 The required deposit for a party list is:

• £500 for the first party list candidate appearing on the list3  
• £200 for each of the next five candidates appearing on the party list4      

Where a person is making the deposit on behalf of an individual candidate or a party’s registered nominating officer, they must, at the time of making it, provide you with their name and address unless they have previously provided as part of their notification of appointment as an election agent.5
 
Deposits can be made using:6

• legal tender (cash in British pounds only)
• UK banker’s draft

You may refuse to accept a banker’s draft if you do not know whether the drawer carries on business as a banker in the United Kingdom.

You can choose to accept funds by means of:7  

• a building society cheque
• a debit or credit card
• electronic transfer of funds

You should also accept banker’s payments which are orders issued by a bank, guaranteeing payment to the recipient. If you decide to accept any of these methods you should list them on the notice of election and make any requirements you have clear in the nomination pack.

If there is a fee attached to the form of payment, you can pass this on to the candidate. If so, you should make this clear on the notice of election and the nomination pack.

This guidance explains the requirements for the delivery of nomination papers. It sets out what you should do to prepare for and undertake informal checking of papers before they are formally delivered and who can deliver nomination papers to you for submission.
  
It also explains what papers must be submitted and how they should be completed in order for you to be able to determine them, along with the method of submission and who is entitled to deliver and attend the delivery of nomination papers.

You may accept delivery of nominations by hand or via the arrangements you set out in the electronic delivery statement.

If the nominations process is interrupted or obstructed on any day by riot or open violence, you must abandon proceedings for that day.1

If the day on which proceedings are abandoned is the last day for the delivery of nomination papers, you must resume the next day.2 In this case, the delivery for notices of withdrawal and publication of statement as to persons nominated are extended by one day.3

The purpose of an informal check is to check that a nomination paper appears to be complete in respect of all the legal requirements.
 
When conducting an informal check it should be made clear that the nomination papers are being looked at informally only.

This process allows you to highlight any errors which would invalidate the paper or which may give reason for a challenge following the election, allowing the opportunity for these to be corrected before being formally submitted.

Once informal checks are complete, the papers will either be returned, or if there are no amendments to be made, they may be formally submitted.
 
When nomination papers are delivered by hand, the person delivering them may choose not to wait for an informal check or may choose not to make any changes following advice given at the informal checking stage. If that is the case the paper should be considered as formally submitted and you should accept it at face value.

All parties, individual candidates and agents (as appropriate) should be given an equal opportunity to access an informal check, whether submitting nominations by hand or electronically.
  
You should consider how you are going to manage this process, for example by putting in place an appointment system.

The deadline for the delivery of nomination papers is 4pm, 19 working days before the poll.1
 
This deadline cannot be moved or extended for any reason, other than in the unlikely event of nominations being disrupted by a riot or open violence.2
  
You must decide on the times you will be accepting the delivery of nomination papers by hand and electronically and state them on the notice of election.3
 
You can start to accept nominations on the same day that the notice of election is published, allowing candidates more time to submit their nomination papers.
 
Alternatively, you can start accepting nominations on the day following the publication of the notice.

Delivery is determined as being when the nomination papers are delivered, either at the place specified in the notice or in accordance with the arrangements set out in the electronic delivery statement.4
   
No appointment is required to deliver nomination papers by hand. However, you should consider how you are going to manage the potential volume of nominations that you will receive. This could include:

• offering appointments for informal checks and the formal delivery of the nomination papers by hand
• highlighting electronic methods for carrying out informal checks and delivery of nomination papers

The Nominating Officer or individual candidate (as appropriate) is responsible for making sure that the nomination papers are delivered in the correct way and by the required deadline.
 
Nomination papers and home address forms must be submitted together, for each party list or individual candidate. Consent to nomination forms are the responsibility of the individual or party candidates (as appropriate) and may therefore be delivered separately from the rest of the nomination paper.5
  
You must ensure that your IT systems record the time that emails containing nomination papers or nominations submitted via an online system are delivered in order to ensure that delivery is in accordance with the required deadline.6

Nominations delivered by hand

Nomination papers not delivered electronically must be delivered by hand to the location(s) specified by you on the notice of election.1
  
The place or places you choose for the delivery of nomination paper must be:2

• in the Senedd constituency, or
• in the registration area which includes the whole or any part of the Senedd constituency

The location(s) for the hand delivery of nomination papers given on the notice of election should be exact and include any room name or number. This will avoid any doubt should nominations be delivered close to the deadline.

You should:

• ensure only you and your staff take delivery of nominations at the specified location
• clearly signpost the location from the building entrance 
• ensure the route is fully accessible, or offer 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 nomination paper to them, making it clear that they:
  • should not handle nomination papers
  • should not offer to deliver them
  • should instead direct the person delivering the forms to you

You or an appointed deputy must be present throughout the period for nominations.3

It is your responsibility to ensure that nominating officers and individual candidates who want to deliver nominations electronically can do so in the way that you have set out in your electronic delivery statement on the notice of election.
 
You should be satisfied that nominations are treated as delivered in accordance with the arrangements set out in the electronic delivery statement, for example when received by the specified email address detailed in the electronic delivery statement, or received onto an online portal if offered.

For more information see our guidance on planning for the management of electronic nominations.

There are no restrictions on who can deliver nomination papers for a party list, whether by hand or electronically.
 
A nomination paper for an individual candidate can only be delivered by the candidate or their appointed agent, whether by hand or electronically.1

Only certain people are entitled to attend the delivery of nomination papers and make objections to the validity of nomination forms. For more information see our guidance on objections to nominations.

The following persons will be able to attend the delivery and make objections to the validity of nomination forms:1

• a person nominated as an individual candidate and their election agent
• if an individual candidate is their own election agent, someone nominated by them to attend on their behalf
• a party list candidate or the election agent of that party
• if the election agent is also a candidate on the party list, someone nominated by them to attend on their behalf
• the registered Nominating Officer of a party that has submitted a party list (or someone appointed in writing on their behalf)

Those who are also entitled to attend the delivery of nomination papers, but who are not allowed to inspect or make any objections to nomination papers are:2  

• Electoral Commission representatives
• Any person delivering a nomination paper on behalf of a political party 
• Any person assisting the RO

You must take reasonable steps to ensure that those who entitled to attend the delivery and make objections to the validity of nomination forms can access those delivered electronically for the purposes of inspection.3 For more information see our guidance on inspection of nomination papers.

The nomination form, consent to nomination and home address forms must be delivered either:1

• by hand 
• electronically as per the arrangements set out in the electronic delivery statement

You should have processes in place for monitoring the electronic delivery of nomination forms, including mitigating against any risk of emails being diverted to spam folders.
 
Where a document is delivered by hand, the original version of each completed document must be submitted. Delivery by hand can include by a courier.

Where a document is delivered electronically, the document may be signed electronically – this could take the form of a typed signature for example.
  
You should take steps to communicate the requirements relating to delivery of nomination papers to all prospective parties, candidates and agents.

Nomination forms, home address forms and consent to nomination forms cannot be delivered by post.

You should have a process in place to monitor your incoming mail to ensure it does not contain nomination papers.
 
If you receive a nomination paper or home address form in the post, you should try to contact the Nominating Officer or individual candidate using the details on the nomination form and explain:

• that the nomination form, consent to nomination and home address forms cannot be accepted by post
• that they (or someone on their behalf) needs to deliver these in accordance with the rules 
• that it is their responsibility to ensure that this is done by the deadline
• that they do not need to produce new nomination papers 

You should keep any nomination papers you receive by post to enable them to be collected and delivered to you by hand or electronically.

You and your staff are not permitted to deliver the forms for a party or individual candidate.

The party or individual candidate is deemed not to have been nominated if:

• you receive a nomination form, home address form or consent to nomination by post
• you have not received all of the required nomination forms by the deadline for delivery of nomination papers1

You cannot determine forms which have not been delivered or take any decision as to whether the papers are valid.

Any nomination forms, consents to nomination or home address forms received at a different email address to those provided in the electronic delivery statement have not been delivered in accordance with the rules.1 Therefore no decision can be taken as to whether the papers are valid.2
 
You should have processes in place for monitoring email address that could be associated with the RO or electoral services to which nomination papers, consent to nomination and home address forms could be sent in error, so that any papers received can be identified quickly and action taken to try to contact the party or the individual candidate.

You should also consider how to make other teams across the council aware that they should contact you as soon as possible if they receive any emails regarding the nomination process.

You should try to contact the Nominating Officer or individual candidate using the details on the nomination form and advise them that the nomination form, consent to nomination and home address forms cannot be accepted unless delivered to the designated email address for the receipt of nomination forms. It is the responsibility of the Nominating Officer or individual candidate to ensure that this is done by the deadline for receipt of nominations.

There is no limit to the number of nomination forms that may be delivered.
 
If a political party delivers more than one party nomination paper and the same party list candidates are nominated by more than one party list submitted on those papers, the Nominating officer must choose one of the party nomination papers - to be known as the selected nomination form. You must choose which one of the valid papers will be used if the Nominating Officer cannot or does not choose one.1
  
If a candidate is shown standing nominated on a party list which is not on the selected nomination form, that candidate is no longer nominated.2
 
If an individual candidate is validly nominated by more than one form, the candidate should choose which one of the valid nomination forms – to be known as the selected nomination form. If they cannot or do not do this, then you must choose which one of the forms will be used.3
    
The details on the selected form should be added to the statement of parties and persons nominated and the ballot paper. 

For nomination papers delivered by hand, nomination is formally delivered at the point where:

• a paper is left with you and the offer of an informal check was not accepted
• the informal check has been conducted, any issues addressed and the person delivering the nomination paper has indicated they are satisfied that it is ready to be determined

If a nomination paper is delivered by hand, the original version of each completed document must be submitted.
  
You should endorse the paper with the date and time of delivery, so that you have a record of when each paper was formally submitted.

For nominations delivered electronically, this means being received by the server of the specific email address or online system provided for the delivery of nominations by the deadline.
 
You cannot treat a nomination as delivered by the deadline solely on the basis that it has been sent by that deadline. The nomination must actually be delivered to you as Returning Officer by the deadline in order to be valid. For example, having proof that an email was sent by the deadline does not provide proof of delivery by the deadline.

You should confirm delivery of any nomination submitted electronically as soon as practicable after receipt to inform the candidate that is has been formally delivered.

To manage expectations, you should be clear in your communications with parties, individual candidates and agents that the electronic delivery of a nomination paper does not mean that it has yet been determined. You could set up an auto-reply function to nominations received electronically to confirm that you have received the nomination but it has not yet been determined, and that a separate notification will be sent as to its validity. If practical, you could also use this auto-reply to give an indication of the likely timeframe involved.

In order to ensure that nomination papers submitted electronically are delivered in accordance with the deadline, you must ensure that any computer system you use records the time that papers are received.1
     
Once a nomination paper has been formally delivered, either by hand or electronically, no changes can be subsequently made to it (subject to your power to correct minor errors).2 For more information see our guidance on mistakes on nomination papers.

If a political party or individual candidate later decides that they want to make changes to their nomination paper after it has been formally submitted, for example to the description, this can only be done by:

• withdrawing 
• submitting new nomination papers within the statutory timeframe

You must determine the validity of a nomination form, home address form and consent to nomination as soon as is practicable after formal delivery.1 This enables any parties or individual candidates whose nominations have been deemed invalid to submit new papers before the close of nomination.

If a completed set of nomination papers have not been delivered by the close of nomination for an individual candidate, the nomination has not been made which means that you cannot rule the nomination valid or invalid.2
    
For party list nominations, if the nomination form and home address forms for each candidate have not been delivered by the close of nomination the party list nomination has not been made which means that you cannot rule the nomination of the party valid or invalid.
 
Additionally as each candidate on the party list is responsible for the submission of their own consent to nomination, where any consent to nomination has not been delivered by the close of nominations for one or more of the candidates on the list, those candidates’ nomination(s) have not been made which means that you cannot rule their nomination(s) valid or invalid.

If you have not received the required deposit by the deadline for the submission of nomination papers, the nomination for the party or individual candidate as appropriate has not been made which means that you cannot rule the nomination valid or invalid.
 
In any of the cases where any candidate or party has not been made there is then no need to make a formal determination, and their name(s) should not appear on the statement of parties and persons nominated (as appropriate).

We have produced a checklist to assist you with processing nomination forms.
  
You can find the nomination checklist in the nominations section of our resource page.

Accepting nominations at face value

You must not:

• undertake any investigation or research, your duty does not go beyond seeing that a nomination form and home address form is correct on face value3

You should not:

• investigate whether a name given on a nomination form is genuine

You should:

• disregard any personal knowledge you may already have
• determine nominations on the basis of the form itself

Sham nominations

In very limited circumstances, there is an exception, based on case law, to the principle of accepting nomination papers at face value. You may come across a situation where a candidate's nomination is clearly a sham - for example, if an obviously fictitious name or address has been given such as Mickey Mouse of Disney Land. In such a case that candidate’s particulars are not as required by law, that candidate’s nomination must be held to be invalid on those grounds.4 In the case of a party list candidate this would not affect the validity of the rest of the candidates on the party list.

In addition, the case law also provides that candidates who give particulars that are obscene, racist or an incitement to crime deliver particulars that are not as required by law. This is because they contravene the law and/or will inevitably involve the RO in a breach of the law.
 
When considering the name, the primary consideration should be whether the name that has been provided on the nomination form appears to be obviously fictitious on the face of the paper.
 
If the name does not appear to be a genuine name and instead appears to be a statement or slogan, for example, you may consider that it is obviously fictitious.
 
Any conclusion would be supported by considering the wider context. For example, does the name appear to be a political slogan made in response to topical political events, rather than the genuine name of a real person?
 
A court would likely in those circumstances conclude that such names are obviously fictitious and that the nomination form should be rejected.

As soon as practicable after an individual candidate’s nomination paper, accompanying home address form and their consent to nomination form and deposit has been delivered, you must examine them and decide whether the candidate has been validly nominated.1
 
An individual candidate stands nominated unless and until:2

• you decide the nomination paper is invalid
• the candidate dies
• the candidate withdraws

Grounds for determining an individual candidate’s nomination papers invalid

By law, the only grounds you have for determining that a nomination form is invalid are:3

• the particulars of the candidate are not as required by law
• the candidate is disqualified under s16(A1) of the 2006 Act
• the candidate’s candidature is in breach of s7(5) of the 2006 Act 
• the nomination paper is not subscribed as required by rule 5(6) of the Senedd election rules

As soon as practicable after a party has delivered the appropriate deposit, the nomination papers including the nomination form, the home address forms, and the consent to nomination forms for each candidate on the list, you must examine them and decide whether the party has been validly nominated.1
  
The party and each candidate on the party list stands nominated unless and until:

• you decide the nomination paper is invalid
• a candidate dies
• a candidate withdraws  

In the case where a party list candidate dies or withdraws that candidate is removed from the party list. Where other candidates remain on the party list, that list remains validly nominated.

Grounds for determining a party list candidate has ceased to stand nominated

On examining the nomination paper, you are entitled to decide that a party list candidate has ceased to stand nominated. The grounds for this decision are that:

• the particulars of a candidate in that list are not as required by law
• a candidate is disqualified under section 16(A1) of the Government of Wales Act 2006 from being a Member of the Senedd, and from being a candidate to be a Member of the Senedd

Where you determine that a candidate on a party list ceases to stand nominated, it does not prevent any other candidate on the party list from standing nominated.

Grounds for determining a party nomination paper invalid

By law, the only grounds you have for determining that a nomination paper is invalid are:

• that the nomination form does not include a party name or description in breach of rule 6(3) of the Senedd election rules
• that the nomination form does not include a party list, or more than 8 candidates have been included on the party list
• that the nomination form does not include a certificate authorising the use of a party name or description in breach of rule 7(1) and (5) of the Senedd election rules
• that the form is not subscribed as required by rule 6(8) of the Senedd election rules
• that every candidate on the party list has ceased to stand nominated because they have died or withdrawn or they are not as required by law

If you decide an individual candidate’s nomination paper is invalid, you must:1

• state that fact on the nomination paper
• write on it the reasons it is invalid
• sign the paper

You should contact the candidate as soon as possible so that they may have the opportunity wherever possible to submit another nomination paper by the close of nominations.

Objections

You must make a decision on an objection to an individual nomination as soon as reasonably practicable after the objection has been made.2 For more information see our guidance on objections to nomination papers.

Sending notice of your decision 

As soon as practicable after your decision has been made, you must send notice of your decision that nomination papers are valid or invalid to each individual candidate.3

Once you have decided that a nomination form is valid, that decision cannot be challenged during the election, although it may be challenged after the election by way of an election petition.4

We have produced a checklist which sets out what you will need to consider and specific things to look out for when determining a nomination.
   
You can find the nomination checklist in the nominations section of our resource page.

If you decide a party list nomination paper is invalid, or you determine that a party list candidate has ceased to stand nominated, you must:1

• state that fact on the nomination paper
• write on it the reasons it is invalid or that the candidate has ceased to stand nominated
• sign the paper

You should contact the Nominating Officer as soon as possible so that they may have the opportunity wherever possible to submit another nomination paper by the close of nominations.

Objections

You must make a decision on an objection to a party nomination paper or to a party list candidate as soon as reasonably practicable after the objection has been made.2 For more information see our guidance on objections to nomination papers.

Sending notice of your decision

As soon as practicable after your decision has been made, you must send notice to each nominating officer stating:3

• your decision as to whether the party’s nomination paper is valid or invalid
• the name and address of any candidates that are to be deleted from the party list

Once you have decided that a nomination paper is valid, that decision cannot be challenged during the election, although it may be challenged after the election by way of an election petition.4
 
We have produced a checklist which sets out what you will need to consider and specific things to look out for when determining a nomination.

You can find the nomination checklist in the nominations section of our resource page.

Withdrawal of a party list candidate or individual candidate

A party list or individual candidate can withdraw their own candidature by giving you a notice of withdrawal.1
  
A notice of withdrawal for a party list or individual candidate must be:2

• signed by the candidate in the presence of a witness
• attested by one witness 
• delivered to you at one of the places specified for the delivery of nomination papers or by the arrangements set out in the electronic delivery statement

by 4pm ,19 working days before the poll.3

Withdrawal of candidate(s) from a party list

A party can withdraw the candidature of any or all of the candidates included in a party list.4
   
The withdrawal notice must be:5

• signed by the party Nominating Officer
• delivered to you at one of the places specified for the delivery of nomination papers or by the arrangements set out in the electronic delivery statement
• by 4pm,19 working days before the poll6

There are no restrictions on who can deliver the notice of withdrawal.

The withdrawal notice is not prescribed in legislation. We have produced template withdrawal notices for a candidate on a party list and an individual candidate, that you could give to someone who requests one.

You can find template withdrawal notices in the nominations section of our resource page.

The details of any candidates who by the close of withdrawals remain validly nominated must be printed on the statement of parties and other persons nominated.7

Return of deposit

Where an individual candidate withdraws, the deposit should be returned to the individual candidate, the person who made the deposit or that person’s personal representative.

If a candidate withdraws or is withdrawn from a party list the return of the deposit is only affected if the remaining number of candidates would be less than six. In these circumstances the deposit should be returned based on the proportion of candidates withdrawn. Deposits are returnable to the registered Nominating Officer which submitted the party list.

Subject to your power to correct minor errors, no changes can be made to a nomination paper once it has been formally delivered.1

Correction of minor errors

The information in this section explains how to deal with minor errors and you must have regard to this.2
 
You can, by law, correct minor errors made on nomination or home address forms at any time before you publish the statement of parties and persons nominated.3
    
You should attempt to contact the party's Nominating Officer in the case of a party list, or the individual candidate or agent, before making any minor error amendment.

This table sets out some of the minor errors which can be corrected and guidance about exercising your power to correct minor errors. You should contact us for advice when considering correcting minor errors. 

Certain people may object to the validity of a party nomination form, the nomination of any party list candidate on the party list and nomination form of an individual candidate.1
    
Objections can only be made on the last day for delivery of nomination forms.2

Timetable for objections

The time within which an objection can be made depends on when the nomination form was delivered: 

You should consider any objection that you receive during the allowed time for objections to be made.
 
For more information see our guidance on decision as to the validity of individual candidate’s nomination papers and decision as to the validity of party nomination papers.
 
You must decide any objection as soon as practicable after it is made and in any event within 24 hours after the close of nominations.1
 
You should limit the objection process to the nomination forms for individual and party list candidates.
 
Where you decide, as a result of an objection, that a party nomination form, a candidate on a party list and individual candidate’s nomination form you have already determined should have been ruled invalid, you must show on the statement of parties and persons nominated:2

• any party, party list candidate or individual candidate who is no longer validly nominated 
• the reason why they no longer stand nominated

You must inform the party’s Nominating Officer or individual candidate as appropriate.3
 
Your decision that a nomination paper is valid is final and cannot be challenged during an election. The decision can only be challenged after an election through an election petition.4   

After the close of nominations you must publish a statement of parties and persons nominated and a notice of poll.1

For more information on the publication of the statement of parties and persons nominated see our guidance on producing election notices.

As you will now know which parties and candidates are standing in the constituency, it is important to revisit your project plan, risk register and plans for the management of polling stations and count. You should check whether they are still suitable or if any amendments are needed to ensure that processes run smoothly, safely and efficiently.

Factors to consider could include the number of parties and individual candidates standing, the level of experience that the parties and individual candidates nominated have of standing for elections and their knowledge of electoral processes, as well as any local risks or issues that could require specific management at polling stations or the count.

Where you have made arrangements to do so, you should also forward the email and phone contact details of candidates standing in the election to the Force Elected-Official Adviser (FEOA). You should ensure that candidates are aware of how their information will be used and provide them with the opportunity to opt out if necessary. For more information, see our guidance on working with your local police force.

Uncontested election

The election is uncontested if the number of candidates standing for the election (whether on a registered party’s list or individual candidates) is the same or less than the number of seats for the Senedd constituency.2
 
In these circumstances you must allocate the seats in accordance with the rules.3
    
You must as soon as practicable publish the statement parties and persons nominated. This must include a statement declaring those party list candidates and individual and elected.4 You must also complete a certificate in the prescribed form and deliver it to the Clerk to the Senedd.5

Once the deadline for making objections has passed, you should store the nomination papers securely until the subsequent time for inspection.
 
Any person may, during office hours on any day after the deadline for delivery of nomination papers and the day before polling day inspect nomination papers and consent to nomination forms.1
 
You must take reasonable steps to ensure that those wanting to inspect nomination forms can access those delivered electronically.2   

A person inspecting nomination papers or consent to nomination forms during this time may take copies or make extracts from them.3  

Only certain people are entitled to inspect home address forms of candidate(s) who stand nominated.1
 
These people are:

• any person standing nominated as a candidate in the same Senedd constituency
• the election agent or subscriber of any other person standing nominated as a candidate in the same Senedd constituency
• where another person standing nominated in the same Senedd constituency is acting as their own agent, any other person nominated by them

Home address forms should be kept securely and are only available for inspection during office hours on any working day from the latest time for delivery of nomination papers until the day of poll.2
   
Where a home address form has been delivered electronically, you must take reasonable steps to ensure access for the purpose of inspection.3
 
Home address forms should be inspected under supervision. Taking extracts of the home address forms, or copies of them, is not permitted.4 Once the inspection period has passed, the home address forms are not open to inspection.
  
You should make it clear to anyone inspecting a home address form which asks for the candidate’s home address not to be published that the information on the form should only be used by the person inspecting to:5

• lodge an election petition
• make a complaint to the police that a person has made a false statement

and that any other use may be in breach of data protection legislation and so could make a person using the information for any other purpose liable to criminal prosecution.

Home address forms must be kept securely stored for a period of 35 working days after the result has been declared.6 They must be securely destroyed on the next working day after the 35 day period.
 
If an election petition relating to the election is presented within the 35 working days, the home address forms must be kept securely until the conclusion of the petition proceedings (including any appeal from such proceedings).
 
The home address form must be securely destroyed as soon as is practicable following the conclusion of the proceedings or appeal.

Translation and formats of notices

You must ensure that notices are translated or provided in another format if appropriate.1  You may produce them:

• in Braille 
• in languages other than English and Welsh
• using graphical representations
• in audio format 
• using any other means of making information accessible

The ballot paper cannot be produced in any language other than English and Welsh, or other than in the prescribed format.
 
The enlarged copy of the ballot paper to be displayed in polling stations must have the instructions for voters printed at the top of the papers,2 and these words may be translated into languages other than English and Welsh.

Ensuring information on notices is accessible

You should ensure that any information about the polls is:

• easily accessible to all voters
• available in an accessible format
• available in time for voters to cast their vote

Information must be made available online.3 This can be through the local authority website.
  
The information provided on your website should be accessible to voters. You could speak to your authority’s equalities officer or web team for advice on how to do this.
  
If you are providing information in PDF format, you should be aware that if certain steps are not followed when creating PDFs, they may not be compatible with screen readers and other assistive technologies.
 
The UK Government has produced a guide to producing accessible PDFs (opens in new window) you can refer to.

You must publish notices online and in any other ways you consider appropriate.1
  
You must take reasonable steps to ensure that notices are brought to the public’s attention.2 For example, you should post notices in a conspicuous place within the constituency, such as local authority offices, noticeboards, libraries, other public buildings.
 
You should apply robust proof-checking processes to help:

• detect any errors 
• avoid any potential data breaches before they occur

For more information on proof checking processes see our guidance on quality assurance.

Data protection considerations for election notices

As the data controller you will need to consider whether it is appropriate or necessary for the notices to remain published, on your website or elsewhere, beyond the expiry of the petition period for that election.

For example, where the notices serve specific purposes, 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.
 
Once the petition deadline for the election has passed you should either remove the notices, or remove the personal data contained in the notices.
 
Data protection legislation does permit personal data to be stored for longer periods, subject to the implementation of appropriate safeguards if the data will be processed:

• solely for archiving purposes in the public interest, or
• for scientific, historical, or statistical purposes 

For notices of election results, for example, you should retain these on your website as they are for public interest and historical and statistical purposes.

For more information see our guidance on data protection considerations. 

You must publish the statement of parties and persons nominated by no later than 4pm, 18 working days before the poll.1
  
You must publish it online and in any other ways you consider appropriate.2
  
The statement must also be printed in conspicuous characters and exhibited inside and outside every polling station.3
   
The EMB must also publish the statement of parties and persons nominated on the elections information platform, they will provide information on the data and format required.
 
You should have robust proof-checking processes in place to ensure that there are no errors on the statement of parties and persons nominated.

Contents of the statement of parties and persons nominated

The statement of parties and persons nominated must include:4

• the notice of poll5  
• each registered party together with the list of party candidates who are validly nominated
• each individual candidate who is validly nominated
• the full name of each party list or individual candidate or their commonly used name(s) if they have given one
• the home addresses of all party list or individual candidates, or if they have requested not to make their home address public the relevant area which is:
  • the name of the Senedd constituency if the home address is in Wales
  • the name of the UK Parliamentary constituency if the home address is elsewhere in the UK
  • the country if their home address is situated outside the UK
• the information contained in each candidates’ statement of membership of political parties, as given on their consent to nomination
• the description Independent and/or Annibynnol (if applicable) of any individual candidates
• any registered parties or individual including any party list candidates who no longer stand nominated, if any (i.e. invalid and withdrawn candidates or parties), with the reason why they are no longer standing  

Your privacy notice should make clear that you are required under electoral legislation to publish a party list and individual candidate’s name in the statement of parties and persons nominated. For more information about the data protection considerations of a privacy notice see our guidance on data protection.

Ordering of names on the statement of parties and persons nominated

The names of the political parties on the statement must be listed in alphabetical order followed by the names of the individual candidates who must be listed in alphabetical order of their surname.6 This is also how they will appear on the ballot paper.7
  
Immediately after each party the names of each candidate on that party’s list must be listed on the statement in the order they appear on the party list.8
 
If there are two or more individual candidates with the same surname, the alphabetical order of the other names will decide which candidate is listed first.9
  
If a candidate on a party list or an individual candidate has requested the use of a commonly used name, the commonly used name must be shown on the statement instead of the actual name.10
 
Where an individual candidate has requested the use of a commonly used surname, the candidate’s alphabetical position on the statement of parties and other persons nominated and on the ballot paper must be made by reference to their commonly used surname.11
 
If, however, you have rejected the use of any commonly used name as you think it is likely to mislead or confuse electors, or is obscene or offensive, the actual name must be published on the statement instead of the commonly used name.12
 
You must send the Commission a copy of the statement of parties and persons nominated.13 The copy should be emailed to [email protected].

Considerations where a candidate has asked for their home address not to be published

You must consider whether two or more of the names shown on the statement of parties and persons nominated are the same or so similar that it is likely to cause confusion.14
 
Where you decide that this is the case and:

• each person has asked for their home address not be made public and
• the relevant area given is also the same

You may make amendments or additions to the person’s information to be shown on the statement of parties and persons nominated, if you think it appropriate to reduce the likelihood of confusion.15
  
You must have regard to this guidance for this purpose.16
 
You must consult any candidates affected before the publication of the statement if it is practicable to do so.17
  
You must give notice to any person whose information has been amended or added, setting out the changes you have made.18
  
You can find a template statement of parties and persons nominated in the nominations section of our resource page.

You should have robust proof-checking processes in place to ensure that there are no errors on the statement of parties and persons nominated. For more information about proof checking see our quality assurance guidance.

Return of deposit

You must return the deposit of any registered party or individual candidate not shown as standing nominated in the statement of parties and persons nominated.19 The deposit must be returned as soon as practicable after the statement of parties and persons nominated has been published or after the candidate’s death (as appropriate).20
 
If a party list is included on the statement of persons nominated but one or more of the candidates on the list submitted by the party are not shown as standing nominated in the statement of parties and persons nominated, the return of the deposit will depend on the number of candidates remaining on the party list. If there are less than six candidates remaining, a portion of the deposit will be returned.

If the election is contested, you must publish a notice of poll for the constituency, stating the date and hours of the poll.1 The notice of poll must be included on the statement of parties and persons nominated, which must be published by no later than 4pm on the eighteenth working day before the poll.2
 
You must give a copy of the statement of parties and persons nominated including the notice of poll to each of the election agents as soon as practicable after their publication.3 You should also be prepared to give copies to any accredited observers on request. 

You must publish a notice of the situation of polling stations for your constituency before or at the same time as the notice of poll.1
  
In each case, the notice of the situation of polling stations must set out:

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

The notice of situation of polling stations may be combined with the statement of parties and persons nominated.2
 
The EMB must also publish the situation of polling stations on the elections information platform, they will provide information on the data and format required (where not already combined and submitted as part of the statement of persons nominated). For more information see the EMB website.
  
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 each of the election agents as soon as practicable after publishing it.3
 
You should also be prepared to make these notices available to any accredited observers on request. 

If a candidate on a party list or any individual candidate dies but the poll remains contested, the election will continue as normal. You must take reasonable steps to publicise the name of the candidate, the fact of their death, whether they were an individual candidate or a party list candidate and, if they were standing on behalf of a registered party, the name of the party.1
 
You should publicise the death by placing notices outside and inside the polling stations in the constituency.

If you receive proof and are satisfied before the result is announced that a candidate on a party list or an individual candidate has died and as a result the poll has become uncontested, the election must be stopped.2 If this happens before polling begins, you must countermand the notice of poll.3 If the poll is underway or the counting is being undertaken, the poll or the count must be abandoned.4
     
Where an election becomes uncontested as the result of the death of an individual or party list candidate the remaining candidates must be declared to be elected.5
 
Proof of death is not defined. You should be satisfied with any information that you have received to indicate that the death has occurred.

This section of guidance covers the appointment of election agents, the requirement to give public notice of the appointment of elections agents and how an appointment can be revoked.

You will also find guidance on the appointment of agents to attend postal vote openings, polling stations, and the verification and count, and information on the secrecy and conduct requirements for attendance at these key electoral events.

The notice of the appointment must be delivered to you, by the latest time for the publication of the statement of parties and persons nominated, which is 4pm, 18 working days before the poll.1

Party list candidates

Each registered party submitting a party list must have notified you of the name of an election agent to act for all the candidates on the party list.2

A candidate on a party’s list can be named as the election agent for that party’s list.3

If you are not notified of the name of the agent by the latest time for the publication of the statement of parties and persons nominated the candidate who is first on the party’s list is deemed to be the election agent for that party list.4  

The candidate who is first on the party’s list is also deemed to be the election agent for that party list if:

• the agent’s appointment is revoked5
• the agent dies, and a replacement is not appointed on the day of the death or on the following day6

We have produced forms for the notification of the appointment of an election agent. These are included as part of the set of nomination papers we have produced for political parties.

You can find the nomination papers for political parties in the agents section of our resource page. 

Individual candidates

An individual candidate must have an election agent.7

Individual candidates may name themselves as their election agent.8

If you are not notified of the name of an agent by the latest time for the publication of the statement of persons nominated, the candidate is automatically named as their own election agent.9

We have produced forms for the notification of the appointment of an election agent. These are included as part of the set of nomination papers we have produced for individual candidates. 

You can find the nomination papers for individual candidates in the agents section of our resource page. 

Election agent’s office address

An election agent must have an office to which all claims, notices, legal process and other documents may be sent.10 The office address must be a physical address – PO boxes or similar mailboxes cannot be used.11 The address of the office must be declared at the same time you are notified of the appointment of the election agent.12

The agent’s office address must be in either:13

• the Senedd constituency in which the election is held or an adjoining Senedd constituency
• a county or county borough which is partly comprised in or adjoins the Senedd constituency 

If the address is outside the relevant qualifying area as defined above, you should contact the candidate and request that they provide an alternative address within the relevant qualifying area.

The election agent’s office address is often the same as their home address. Alternatively, it might be that of the local political party office, or an office especially set up for the election.

If a party list candidate is named as the election agent for the party or an individual candidate is named as their own election agent and their home address is also their office address and they have requested that their home address is not made public, then a correspondence address can be provided.14

The correspondence address must be in England or Wales. The correspondence address will be published on the notice of election agents instead of the office address.15

Where the candidate named first on the party list or an individual candidate is deemed to be the election agent because the Returning Officer has not been notified of an agent appointment, the office address will be deemed to be the address provided on the candidate’s consent to nomination.16

All candidates must provide an address on their consent to nomination to be used as an office address in the event they become an election agent by default.17

You must publish a notice setting out the election agent’s name and address after you have been notified of the appointment.1 The notice of election agent must show the commonly used name of a party list candidate or individual candidate who is named as an election agent if the statement of persons nominated shows a commonly used name is stated on their nomination paper.2

You must publish a correspondence address on the notice of election agents where an election agent is also a party list or individual candidate and has requested on a home address form that their address is not to be made public.3 The only exception to this is where an individual or party candidate has been become the election agent by default in these circumstances the address will be as given in the consent to nomination.4

The notice must be updated if any agent’s appointment is revoked, or an agent dies, and the new agent’s details published on the revised version.5

Your privacy notice should make clear that you may be required under electoral legislation to publish an election agent’s name and address information in the notice of election agents. The notice serves a specific purpose, i.e. advising who will be a candidate’s election agent, so once the election is over, and the opportunity to question that the election has passed, they serve no further purpose. You should either remove the notice, or remove the personal data contained in the notice, once the petition deadline for the election has passed

For more information see our guidance on data protection.

Party lists

Once an election agent has been appointed they cannot resign from their role. The appointment may only be revoked by or on behalf of the party and in respect of all candidates. In this case a new election agent must be appointed, or the highest listed candidate would become the agent by default.1

If the candidate who is first on the party’s list is acting as the election agent for that party list, they can also revoke their own appointment and appoint a new agent. This is irrespective of whether they became an agent as a result of the party not having appointed one or because they had given written notice of their own appointment.

Individual candidates 

Once an election agent has been appointed they cannot resign from their role. Only the candidate may revoke the appointment. In this case, the candidate would need to appoint a new election agent or would become their own agent.2
 
If an individual candidate is acting as their own election agent, irrespective of whether they became an agent as a result of not appointing one or because they had given written notice of their own appointment, they can also revoke their own appointment and appoint a new agent. 

Revoking an appointment

A candidate may revoke the appointment of an election agent at any time during the election period. Wherever the appointment of an election agent is revoked, you must be notified in writing of any such changes.3

You must then publish a revised version of the notice of election agents.4

Where possible, if an election agent is revoked but has already been involved in authorising expenditure of campaign materials, the candidate should obtain a declaration from the previous agent regarding any expenses which occurred during their time as agent, to support the candidate’s submission of their final expenses return.

An election agent may appoint a sub-agent to act on their behalf in any part of the constituency.1

The office address of the sub agent must be in either:2

• the Senedd constituency in which the election is held or an adjoining Senedd constituency
• a county or county borough which is partly comprised in or adjoins the Senedd constituency3

A sub-agent can do anything that the election agent is entitled to do within the area to which they are appointed.4 They may attend the opening of postal votes, the verification, count and/or calculation of the result where these are taking place within the area in which they have been appointed to act and they are acting in place of the election agent.

The election agent must declare to you, in writing, the name, address and office address of the sub-agent they have appointed by 2 working days before the day of the poll.5

You should include forms for the notification of appointment of sub-agents in your nomination packs. 

You can find nomination packs in the agents section of our resource page.

The election agent can revoke the appointment of a sub-agent at any time. If a sub-agent dies or has their appointment revoked the election agent may appoint a new-sub agent by declaring in writing the name, address, office address of the new sub-agent to you.6

Once the name, address, office address and area of appointment of a sub-agent have been declared, you must give public notice of these details.7 The notice must specify the part of the Senedd constituency in which the sub-agent is appointed to act.

Polling and counting agents

The election agent of each political party and any individual candidate standing nominated can appoint agents to observe the poll and the verification and count.1

Postal vote agents

The election agent of each political party and any individual candidate standing nominated at the election can appoint agents to observe the postal vote opening.2

Requirement of secrecy

You are responsible for receiving the notifications of appointment of these agents and you must ensure that all appointed agents are given a copy of the relevant secrecy requirements for the opening of postal votes,3 the poll,4 and the count.5

You can find secrecy requirements in the agents section of our resource page. 

You should ensure that political parties, individual candidates and agents are reminded of the procedure for appointing such agents and the deadline that applies for the notification of such appointments. 

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 notice to the election agents for each party and each party list candidate and individual candidate nominated at least 48 hours’ notice before the time fixed for a postal vote opening session 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 are permitted by law to limit the number of postal voting agents appointed. The maximum number that may be authorised must be the same for each postal voting agent of a political party and individual candidate.3

We have developed a form for the notification of appointment of a postal voting agent. You can find the notification of appointment of a postal voting agent form in the agent section of our resource page. 

Secrecy and conduct requirements

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

You must provide a copy of the secrecy requirements to everyone attending the opening of postal votes.4 You can find secrecy requirements in the agents section of our resource page.

The key points are that:

• anyone attending an opening session must not attempt to see how individual ballot papers have been marked or keep a tally of how ballot papers have been marked
• 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 agents are entitled by law to access polling stations for the purpose of detecting personation. 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 poll for their appointment to be in force for the poll.1

We have developed a form for the notification of appointment of a polling agent. You can find the notification of appointment of a polling agent form in the agents section of our resource page. 

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

Limiting the number of agents in attendance

There is no restriction on the number of polling agents that may attend a polling station. However only one polling agent for each a party list or individual candidate may be admitted to a polling station at any particular time.2

Secrecy and conduct requirements

Anyone attending a polling station has a duty to maintain the secrecy of the ballot. All polling agents must be supplied with the following requirements of secrecy for the poll.3

You can find the secrecy requirements in the agents section of our resource page.

In particular, the following information must not be disclosed:

• the name or electoral number of an elector or proxy 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 present in a polling station for polling and related procedures to take place.

Counting agents can be appointed to observe the verification and counting processes.1 You must give appointed counting agents 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

We have developed a form for the notification of appointment of a counting agent for use at Senedd elections. You can find the form for the notification of appointment of a counting agent in the agents section of our resource page. 

Limiting the number of agents in attendance

You are permitted by law to limit the number of counting agents appointed.4 The number that may be appointed by each political party and individual candidate must be the same.5

Unless there are special circumstances, the number 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 political parties and individual candidates standing nominated.6

When determining the maximum number of counting agents, each candidate and agent 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 information see our guidance on 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 counting agents must be supplied with the following requirements of secrecy for the count.7

You can find the secrecy requirements in the agents section of our resource page. 

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

Calculation of the result and the allocation of seats

Party list, individual candidates and their election agents may attend the calculation and allocation of seats. Additionally, each party list and individual candidate can invite one other person to attend. This person is in attendance as a guest. They have no powers or functions.

For more information on who is permitted to attend the calculation of the result and the allocation of seats, see our guidance on access to the result collation. 

The effective management of the absent voting process is essential to ensure that absent voting is accessible and that electors are able to exercise their vote as they have requested.

This section includes guidance on the absent voting timetable, the key deadlines for the process and how and when electors can make changes to their existing absent voting arrangements ahead of an election. It also covers arrangements that should be put in place for proxy voting, and guidance for the issuing of postal votes, including how to quality assure the process.

You will also find guidance on the processes that must be followed on the receipt of postal votes. It includes information on the postal vote opening process, who can attend postal vote opening sessions and the records you must keep as part of the process.

You must issue postal votes to electors as soon as is practicable.1 In practice this means at any time after the details to be printed on the ballot papers have been confirmed, i.e. after the deadline for the delivery of nomination papers, which is 4pm 19 working days before polling day for the Senedd elections.2

The Electoral Management Board (EMB) may make directions or recommendations for when the first issue of postal votes is dispatched to electors.

The early dispatch of postal votes will maximise the time available for electors – especially for those that need to be sent overseas and service voters – to receive, complete and return their postal votes. You can find more information in our guidance on issuing and distributing postal votes. 

You may only issue a postal vote to someone who has already been added to the register. The Electoral Registration Officer (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. For more information see our guidance for EROs on election notices of alteration. 

If you are not also the ERO, you should liaise with them to obtain the postal voters’ list and the 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 papers.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. 

For more information on interim notices of alteration see our guidance for EROs. 

Our template election timetable for Senedd elections also includes the relevant publication dates for these notices. 

You can find a Senedd election timetable in the absent voting section of our resources page.  

Deadline for absent vote applications and requests for changes to existing arrangements

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

• to cancel existing postal votes
• for electors to make changes (i.e. amending the delivery address) to any 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.7

The deadline for new proxy applications (not postal proxy), excluding emergency proxy applications, is 5pm, 6 working days before polling day.8

The deadline for emergency proxy applications is 5pm on polling day.9 For more information see our guidance on voting by emergency proxy.

This table summarises the deadlines for easy reference:

The ERO will provide you with the final lists of absent voters, i.e., the list of postal voters, the list of postal proxy voters 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 6 working days before the poll, to receive the required evidence from the applicant under the exceptions process and make a determination.

An absent vote cannot be granted until the registration application has 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 voting arrangements or cancelling an absent vote is 5pm, 11 working days before the poll.1

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 elections as long as their request is received by the deadline and they have not yet returned their postal ballot paper. You will need a system in place to 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(s) can still make a request to make changes to their absent voting arrangements but these changes will not take place until any future poll.2  

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.3   

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. 

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:4

• 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 to absent voting arrangements to take effect for the election
• you can cancel the postal ballot paper(s) if the request has been allowed

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

If you are not also the ERO, they will, as soon as practicable, provide you with a list of all electors who have, by 5pm, 6 working days before polling day, appointed a proxy to vote on their behalf. You must supply Presiding Officers with the relevant parts of the list of proxies and the list of postal proxies.

Electors with an in-person proxy vote in place are marked with a P in the polling station register. However, the polling station register must be marked with an A against the name of an elector whose proxy has applied to vote by post as they can no longer vote in the polling station.1 A separate list will contain the details of postal proxies.

Restrictions on proxy voting

A person may not have more than one proxy at any time.2  

A person is not entitled to vote as proxy at the same Senedd election in a particular constituency on behalf of more than two electors who are not close relatives.3  

A person can act as proxy for any number of close relatives. A close relative is defined for these purposes as spouse, civil partner, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, child or grandchild.4  

A proxy would be committing an offence if they voted on behalf of more than two electors who are not close relatives in a constituency at the Senedd elections.5  

For more information see our guidance for EROs on qualifications for acting as a proxy. 

An elector may find that they are unable to go to the polling station after the deadline for arranging an ordinary proxy has passed (i.e. 5pm, 6 working days before the poll). An elector may appoint an emergency proxy to vote on their behalf 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 
• if they are a mental health patient detained under civil powers (i.e. those who are not detained offenders)
• if their occupation, service or employment means that they cannot go to the polling station in person and they became aware of this fact after the deadline for ordinary proxy applications

Electors can apply for an emergency proxy after the deadline for normal proxy applications have passed up until 5pm on polling day. If you are not also the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), you should agree a method for communicating any additions to the list of proxies that result from the granting of emergency proxy applications.

Whenever an emergency proxy has been appointed, every effort should be made to contact the appropriate polling station staff to inform them of this, including by phone, particularly as there is no requirement in law for the proxy to provide any documentation in order to be permitted to vote.

Wherever possible, however, the ERO should provide the proxy of any voter whose emergency proxy application has been accepted 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 letter with them when they go to vote and to hand it to the 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 ballot papers and the marked letter should 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. For more information see 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 procedures to be followed.

For more information see our guidance for EROs on emergency proxies. 

As part of your planning for the delivery of key processes, you will have made decisions on the process for issuing postal votes and how you will distribute these.

This section includes further guidance relating to the issue and delivery of postal votes, including re-issuing and cancelling postal vote packs, as well as guidance to quality assure the process.

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 after the deadline for the delivery of nomination papers.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.

The EMB may make directions or recommendations for when the first issue of postal votes should be dispatched. 

Existing elector with existing postal voting arrangements

Once the deadline for withdrawals has passed, postal ballot papers should be issued to existing electors who have already 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. 

New electors who made postal vote applications alongside their registration application

The ERO must publish two interim election notices of alteration before publishing the final election notice of alteration 5 working days 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, as you are only able to issue a postal vote to someone who has already been added to the register.

For more information see our guidance for EROs on interim notices of alteration. 

Our election timetable for the Senedd elections also includes the relevant publication dates. 

You can find a Senedd election timetable in the absent voting section of our resources page. 

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 to be used at postal vote issuing sessions. 

The corresponding number list used must be in the prescribed form (or a form to like effect). It must contain the ballot paper number and unique identifying mark of the ballot paper to be issued to that elector.2  

When the ballot paper is issued to that elector, the elector number must be marked on the corresponding number list beside the ballot paper number and unique identifying mark.3  

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.4   

The postal ballot pack

The number of the postal ballot paper must be included on the postal voting statement to be sent with the ballot paper.5

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

For more information on the content requirements of the postal ballot pack see our guidance on the production of postal voting stationery.

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 proxy postal voters’ list.6

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.7

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 statements as to postal ballot papers.

You are required to complete a statement including the details as to the postal ballot papers for the constituency.

This table summarises the issuing process:

Who can attend the postal vote issuing process?8  

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

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.9

You can find the postal voting secrecy provisions in the absent voting section of our resources page.

Postal ballot packs sent to anonymously registered electors must be sent in an envelope or covering that does not disclose that the elector is registered anonymously.1   

You should send postal ballot packs to anonymously registered electors in a plain outgoing envelope. The postal voting statement must also omit the elector’s name.2

As part of your preparations for the issue of postal votes, you should agree with your printers a process that will enable you to do this. 

The ERO's records of granted applications will include the address to which the anonymous elector has requested that their postal vote should be sent.

Postal ballot packs that are to be sent overseas should be prioritised in order to allow as much time as possible for the ballot pack to reach the elector and to be completed and returned. As part of your preparations for the issue of postal votes, you should agree with your printers a process that will enable you to do this. 

Postal votes going overseas should be sent via air mail (or by the British Forces Post Office for relevant service voters) in order to allow the maximum possible time for postal votes to be received, completed and returned. Postal ballot packs to be sent overseas should be sorted and identified to the mail service provider so that they can be sent via the appropriate mail service.

You should liaise with Royal Mail about the cost of postage for sending items overseas and ensure that the correct postage is included on all outgoing postal ballot packs.

You must include an envelope to facilitate the return of the postal ballot pack,1 but for items sent overseas, the envelope should not include UK return postage as this will not be sufficient for the return of the postal ballot pack to the UK and could result in a delay to the return of the completed postal ballot pack. Instead, you should put in place arrangements with Royal Mail for an international business response licence to be used on all return envelopes included in postal ballot packs which are sent to overseas addresses to facilitate the timely return of completed postal ballot packs from outside the UK.

Where it may not be realistic for a postal ballot pack to be despatched, completed and returned before the close of poll, the ERO should make the elector aware of this fact and advise the elector to appoint a proxy as an alternative.

It is, of course, the choice of the elector as to which method of voting they prefer, but it is important that electors are fully advised of the circumstances surrounding their choice so that they can make an informed decision.

You are responsible for ensuring that the issuing of postal votes is carried out in accordance with legislation, regardless of whether you have outsourced the process. 

You should plan to quality-assure the end-to-end postal vote issuing process including:

• where outsourcing have a member of staff in attendance where postal votes are being issued, with knowledge of the agreed specifications
• checking the correct details are on the stationery and that packs are properly collated
• checking the packs at the start and end of polling districts
• carrying out random spot checks of at least two postal ballot packs per 250 within polling districts across your area and within each batch
• checking that packs being sent overseas contain an appropriate reply envelope
• keeping an audit trail of the checks and processes undertaken

You should pay particular attention to checking that:

• the ballot paper number(s) on the reverse of the ballot paper(s) exactly match the ballot paper number given on accompanying postal voting statement(s)
• the name of the elector on the postal voting statement matches the name on the outgoing envelope
• all required items are in the outgoing envelope

You should work with your suppliers to ensure that your postal voting packs are quality assurance processes are thoroughly but do not cause any unnecessary delay to the dispatch of the packs.  

If you have outsourced the issuing process, discussions to facilitate these checks should occur at the time the contract is negotiated and reflected in it. 

Following the initial issue of postal ballot packs, subsequent issues of postal ballot packs will be required where electors have applied to vote by post close to the absent voting deadline, which is 5pm, 11 working days before polling day.1  

Any subsequent issue is likely to be at an already busy time in the election timetable, so it is important that you have the necessary arrangements in place to issue and deliver subsequent postal ballot packs as quickly and efficiently as possible.

You should ensure that:

• you have sufficient staff to manage the process, whether you are issuing postal votes in-house, or using an external provider
• your printer is aware of the timings of data transfers and where applicable dispatch of postal ballot packs
• you have processes in place to perform ongoing quality assurance monitoring of the production and delivery of your subsequent postal ballot pack issues

Special arrangements for ad hoc issues of postal ballot packs

You should put a mechanism in place to ensure that you are able to carry out additional unscheduled issues. 

For example, when you become aware that one or more electors are going to be on holiday or away on business by the time of the next scheduled issue of postal votes you should, as far as it is practicable, issue postal ballot packs outside of your scheduled issue to those individual electors.

You will need to put arrangements in place for the delivery of postal ballot packs. You have a choice of two methods:1  

• by hand
• by post

Whichever method you choose, you should ensure that you have a detailed plan covering all actions required to achieve the successful delivery of postal ballot packs. For more information see our guidance on working with mail delivery partners.  

The EMB may direct or recommend that arrangements be made for postal votes to be issued by first class post. 

As part of your integrity planning for the elections, you should inform your police single point of contact (SPOC) of the date you will start dispatching postal ballot packs to electors. This will mark the date from which there is a higher risk of postal voting fraud and they should build this into their own planning. 

For more information see our guidance on maintaining the integrity of the election.

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 constituency 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 votes by hand, even where the majority of your packs have been delivered by post, for example when replacing lost or spoilt postal ballot packs.

You should plan for how this will work in practice, including how you will ensure that such postal ballot packs can be printed and delivered at short notice.

For more information on managing the delivery of additional postal ballot packs close to the poll see our guidance on planning for the issue of postal votes.

You may choose to manage the supply of your postal vote packs to a delivery partner or have this managed by your print supplier. You may use Royal Mail or any other commercial delivery firm for the delivery of postal votes. For more information see our guidance on working with mail delivery partners.

Options for delivery

If you are using Royal Mail to deliver your postal votes, you should put in place arrangements for the relevant licenses and Business Reply numbers as soon as possible and confirm that your proposed stationery meets their specifications in order to avoid any potential delays at the time when your postal ballot packs are due to be distributed to electors. If you are using a commercial delivery firm, you should make similar arrangements as appropriate. 

Your contingency planning should address how you would issue and receive any returned postal ballot packs if Royal Mail or the commercial delivery firm you have contracted are unable to deliver the postal ballot packs, for example, due to industrial action.

If you are using Royal Mail to deliver your postal votes, you should ensure that you have an up-to-date copy of Royal Mail’s best practice guidance on postal voting, Managing Postal Voting.

Quality assuring the despatch process

You should make arrangements for the secure transfer of the postal ballot packs from your printer to Royal Mail or your chosen delivery firm. You should ensure that a clear procedure and audit trail is in place for transferring postal ballot packs.

You must count the total number of outgoing envelopes and arrange delivery of the envelopes to your delivery contractor along with a receipt showing the total number of postal ballot packs in that batch.1 This receipt should be endorsed by the Royal Mail or your delivery firm to acknowledge receipt of the batch prior to despatch. 

If your printing supplier is despatching materials to electors on your behalf, it is important that you continue to liaise with them once final sign-off of all printed and filled material is completed and it is ready for despatch.

You should ensure that you get confirmation from your print supplier once despatch has begun, confirmation of how many packs have been or will be despatched per day and an update on how long it will take for the despatch to be completed.

You should ask your print supplier for a copy of the postal dockets for each despatch for adding to your formal audit trail of the process. These dockets should detail the number of items despatched per day, and confirm the postal services used. Photos/scanned images of the dockets will suffice for these purposes.

If you have agreed with your print supplier that down stream access (DSA) providers will be used as part of the despatch and delivery process, you should get updates from your delivery contractor on the progress of the delivery throughout.

You should 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 constituency and to agreed timeframes.

All of the measures above will help to identify possible issues that may have arisen with regards to despatch, feed into any subsequent evaluation of contractor performance, and enable you to provide information to voters on dates that they should expect to receive material through your social media channels and call centres as appropriate.

Quality assurance measures for monitoring delivery

If possible, you should have arrangements in place to track deliveries in order to assist with responding to any enquiries from electors regarding the delivery of their postal ballot pack. You should also ensure you monitor the level of queries from electors being received through all channels as this will help highlight any issues being experienced with the delivery of materials in practice. 

You should monitor any unusually low returns of completed postal ballots by polling districts as that may be an indication of delivery issues.

You should also ensure that you have clear methods of communication to enable any issues or queries to be addressed quickly. For more information on quality assurance see our guidance on managing contractors.

It is possible to re-issue postal ballot packs:1   

• to replace a spoilt postal ballot paper/papers and/or postal voting statement
• to replace a lost or not received postal ballot pack
• to correct a procedural error

You will find guidance on the process to be followed for each type of reissue in the following pages.

If a person spoils their postal ballot paper and/or postal voting statement, it is possible for them to obtain a replacement postal ballot pack. Replacements can be issued up until 5pm on polling day.1  

All parts of the postal vote pack must be returned before a replacement can be issued, regardless of whether or not these have been spoilt.2 This includes:

• the spoilt postal ballot paper(s) or spoilt postal voting statement along with the remaining ballot paper(s) or postal voting statement 
• return envelope B 
• ballot paper envelope A 

A new postal ballot pack can then be issued to the elector. 

The legislation requires that any returned spoilt ballot papers and postal voting statements must be cancelled and sealed in a packet for spoilt postal ballot papers, even if only one of them has actually been spoiled.3

In certain circumstances you can cancel a postal vote which is considered spoilt, even if it has been returned to the RO.4 In this case, the spoilt ballot paper and postal voting statement must be retrieved and sealed as described above.

Up to 5pm on the day before polling day, an elector may return spoilt documents by hand or by post. If the request for a replacement postal ballot pack is made in person, the replacement postal vote may be issued and handed to the elector.5

After 5pm on the day before polling day any return of spoilt documents and requests for replacement postal ballot packs must be made in person.6 In such cases, the issue of a replacement can also only be made by hand to the elector.7  

You must put in place systems to enable you to issue replacements up to 5pm on polling day. You will need to give this particular consideration if you have outsourced the issue of postal votes.

You should consider whether or not particular arrangements need to be put in place for disabled electors when making arrangements to re-issue spoilt ballot papers, as there may be some electors who are unable to attend the elections office due to disability.

Record keeping for spoilt ballot papers

The elector’s name and electoral number must be added to the list of spoilt postal ballot papers to show that the spoilt ballot postal vote has been cancelled.8 The name must not, however, be added if the elector is registered anonymously. The ballot paper number of the replacement ballot paper must also be added to the list.9 In the case of a postal proxy, the name and address of the proxy must be added to the list alongside the other details.10

For the purposes of collating data for the statement of postal ballot papers (Form 6), you must also add the detail of any spoilt papers which have been cancelled to the list of all cancelled postal ballot papers.11 For more information see our guidance on record keeping for cancelled ballot papers. 

This table summarises the procedure for re-issuing spoilt postal votes:

The information in this section explains how to deal with lost postal ballot papers and you must have regard to this.1

Where a voter claims either to have lost or not to have received their postal ballot paper, postal voting statement or envelopes A and/or B, it is possible for a replacement postal ballot pack to be issued from 4 working days before polling day up to up until 5pm on polling day.2

Up to 5pm on the day before polling day, if the request for a replacement postal pack is made in person, the replacement postal vote can be issued and handed to the elector.3

If a request for a replacement postal ballot pack is received after 5pm on the day before polling day up to 5pm on polling day, the voter must apply in person4 and the issue of a replacement pack must only be made by hand.5 You may refuse to issue a replacement pack to an elector if you have reason to doubt that that they have either lost or did not receive their original postal ballot pack.6

You must re-issue a postal ballot pack if you are satisfied as to the postal voter’s identity and have no reason to doubt that they have lost or did not receive their original postal ballot pack.7

To establish the postal voter’s identity, a proportionate approach should be adopted that seeks to use some proof of identity that can be easily verified by staff, but that is not too onerous for the elector. Legislation does not prescribe which forms of ID are required but the RO must be satisfied of the elector’s identity.8 For more information see our guidance on proof of identity recommendations for re-issuing postal votes.

You should consider whether or not particular arrangements need to be put in place for those electors who are unable to attend the office in person, for example due to disability or being overseas. For example, you could consider accepting scanned copies of proof of identity listed in the examples in the next section via email, or utilising video-calling technology.

If not all parts of the postal ballot pack have been lost or not received, the voter must return those documents they do have.9 You are then required to immediately cancel those documents.10

Voters may telephone your office to enquire about a replacement postal ballot pack if their postal vote has failed to arrive. If this is the case, your staff should advise about the procedure for re-issuing and explain what proof of identity they will be asked to produce before a replacement postal ballot pack will be issued.

Record keeping for lost/not received postal ballot papers

Where you re-issue a postal vote due to it being lost or not received, you must add the elector's name and elector number to the list of lost postal ballot papers.11 The name must not, however, be added if the elector is registered anonymously.12 The ballot paper number of the replacement ballot paper(s) must also be added to the list.13 In the case of a postal proxy, the name and address of the proxy must be added to the list alongside the other details.

For the purposes of collating data for the statement of postal ballot papers (Form 6), you must also add the details of any lost ballot papers which have been cancelled to the list of all cancelled postal ballot papers.14 For more information see our guidance on record keeping for cancelled ballot papers.

The table summarises the procedure for re-issuing lost or not received postal votes:

You should consider what process you will follow to be satisfied as to the identity of an elector seeking to be issued with a replacement postal ballot pack, where the original has been lost of has not been received. 

This section provides a set of recommendations regarding proof of identity. 

Recommendation 1 – Primary proofs of identity

One primary proof of identity should be provided before a replacement postal ballot pack is issued. This should be an official document that includes a photograph of the elector, together with the elector’s name. The two most secure examples are: 

• passport
• photocard driving licence

Other documents may be acceptable as primary proof, as long as they have a sealed photograph. Examples include: 

• local bus pass
• student card issued by a recognised further or higher education body
• identity card issued by a recognised employer 

Some electors may not be able to produce photographic identification. In these circumstances, it is recommended that they should be asked to provide two examples drawn from the list of secondary proofs as listed below. 

Recommendation 2 – Secondary proofs of identity

If you still have any doubt about the identity of an elector requesting a replacement postal ballot pack, a secondary proof of identity could be sought. Also, if an elector cannot produce a primary proof of identity, two secondary proofs of identity could be requested. 

Secondary proofs of identity include: 

• full driving licence (without photograph)
• council tax payment book or recent council tax bill 
• council or social landlord rent book 
• recent rent receipts or tenancy agreement
• allowance, benefits or pension book issued by the Department for Work and Pensions 
• cheque book, cheque card or National Savings book   
• recent bank or building society statement (not a store card statement)
• recent utility bill (two different ones are preferable; not a mobile phone bill)
• P45 
• correspondence from a government department 
• identity card issued by a member state of the European Union/European Economic Area, travel document issued by the Home Office, or certificate of naturalisation or registration 
• letter (attested statement) from a responsible person such as a solicitor, doctor, minister of religion, magistrate, teacher, hostel manager, social worker, district nurse, midwife or other responsible person, which says that they know the elector and can confirm their name and address. You may wish to include the elector’s landlord or tenant in this category, and possibly stipulate that they are on the electoral register 
• National Health Service medical card or National Insurance card 
• birth, adoption, marriage, civil partnership, divorce or statutory declaration certificates (these should preferably have been issued within six months of the event to which they refer and not be replacements) 

You should also consider the following points: 

• for added security, originals, not photocopies, of the proof of identity should be produced where possible
• the evidence provided by the voter should show a clear link between the name on the identifying document and the current entry on the electoral register
• birth certificates are not absolute proof of identity and so the voter may be asked to provide additional evidence to allow their identity to be checked
• where utility bills or bank statements are provided, they should be recent (i.e., issued within the last three months)
• cheque, bank or credit cards should be checked against the voter’s signature
• before an attestation is sought, the voter should be advised that some signatories may charge a fee for the service
• you should state that proof of identity will not be retained and that the documents will be treated confidentially and originals will be returned

Data protection legislation does not set out any specific maximum periods for retention of personal data, but it states that personal data processed for any purpose shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose.1  

If you have issued incorrect or incomplete postal ballot packs in error, you may be able to re-issue postal ballot packs using your powers to correct a procedural error.1  

Depending on the circumstances, you will need to decide whether to re-issue some or all of the postal ballot packs. For example, if an error in collation affected a certain range of packs, only those packs would need to be re-issued. 

Decisions about re-issuing as a result of a procedural error should be made on a case-by-case basis. In each case, consideration should be given to the impact that the error and any action to correct it could have on electors. For example, you will need to ensure that any action will rectify the error and not cause unnecessary confusion or result in a different error.

Any decision to take action to rectify a procedural error should be made following legal advice. You should document both the error and any corrective action taken in case there is a challenge to the election and a need to claim against insurance. 

Whatever action is taken, you should ensure that any communications to those voters who are affected clearly explain the error and the steps that you are taking to remedy it. You should also notify parties, candidates and agents of the error and your intended corrective action as soon as possible. By being transparent about the problem and the solution you will minimise the risk of a loss of confidence in the administration of the elections.

For more information see our guidance on breach of official duty and power to correct procedural errors.

When considering using this power, you should contact the Commission’s Wales office, who may be able to provide further tailored support to you.

Record keeping for issuing after a procedural error

When a postal vote has been re-issued as a result of a procedural error, the original ballot paper must be cancelled, added to the list of cancelled ballot papers and must not be allowed to go forward to the count.2   

Postal ballot packs must be issued as soon as it is practicable to do so after the deadline for the delivery of nomination papers.1  

There may be circumstances after the deadline for the delivery of nominations 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 elections. 

However, a postal ballot paper that has already been returned cannot be cancelled.2 For more information see our ERO guidance on changing or cancelling postal votes at an election.

If you are not also the ERO you will need to arrange how you will liaise with them, so that any changes to absent voting arrangements can be communicated with 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(s) that have been issued to such an elector or postal proxy and add the details of the cancelled ballot paper(s) to the list kept for that purpose.3 For more information see our guidance on record keeping for cancelled postal votes. 

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 papers should be sent, you must, in addition to cancelling the original postal ballot paper(s) issue a replacement postal ballot pack to the new address.4

You must also cancel any lost or spoilt postal ballot papers you have had to replace.5  

For more information see our guidance on re-issuing spoilt postal votes and lost/not received postal votes. 

You need to maintain an audit trail of all the cancellations, your software system can be used to log all cancellations to enable you to produce the required list of cancelled postal ballot papers and identify any postal ballot papers that have been cancelled but have been returned and so need to be retrieved.

You must record the details of all cancelled postal ballot papers on one list. You must also make separate lists for spoilt, lost and a list of cancelled ballot papers containing the details outlined under the headings below:

List of spoilt ballot papers

The list of spoilt ballot papers must contain:1   

• the name and number of the elector as stated in the register (or, in the case of an elector who has an anonymous entry, only their electoral number)
• where the postal voter whose ballot paper is spoilt is a proxy, their name and address
• the number of the postal ballot paper

List of lost ballot papers

The list of lost ballot papers must contain:2

• the name and number of the elector as stated in the register (or, in the case of an elector who has an anonymous entry, only their electoral number)
• where the postal voter is a proxy, their name and address 
• the number of the postal ballot paper which has been lost or not received 
• the number of the replacement postal ballot paper

List of cancelled postal ballot papers as a result of any change to absent voting arrangements after a postal vote has been sent

The list of cancelled postal ballot papers must include:3

• the name and number of the elector as stated in the register of electors (or, in the case of an elector who has an anonymous entry, only their electoral number)
• where the postal voter is a proxy, their name and address 
• the number of the cancelled postal ballot paper
• the number of the replacement postal ballot paper that have been issued to the elector

The contents of any postal ballot pack that has been cancelled, including any envelopes, must be made into a packet and sealed.4 The seal must only be opened to include additional cancelled documents in the packet.5  

Where a postal ballot paper has been cancelled, you must retrieve both the postal voting statement and the ballot paper, if they have been returned, so that they do not go forward to the count.1

You must ensure that the postal ballot box is resealed in the presence of any agents present once cancelled postal ballot papers have been retrieved from the postal ballot box.2

Cancelling postal votes that have been returned3  

You should make arrangements for how you will deal with cancellations after postal packs have been issued and returned to you, including:

• how you will be able to retrieve and cancel any postal ballot papers and postal voting statements that are going through or have already gone through the postal vote opening process
• how you will explain what is happening to candidates and agents present at an opening session at which you need to retrieve and cancel a postal ballot paper

This table summarises the steps you should take for managing the retrieval of cancelled postal votes:

Whilst having robust quality assurance measures in place will help to ensure that supplier services are delivered correctly, it is important to be prepared for managing any errors or issues that may arise. As soon as you are made aware of an issue, either through escalation from your supplier, or through contact with electors, it is important to talk to your supplier to try to understand the scale and scope of the issue, and consider your pre-existing contingency plans as appropriate, as this will impact on your decision making on how to resolve the issue.

Before making any decisions on what action to take, it is important that you contact us so that we can discuss the issue with you and provide tailored advice and support in how to manage it.

Once you have all of the relevant information, have taken the appropriate advice and have made a decision on what action to take, you should agree plans with your suppliers accordingly and keep in close contact as these contingency plans are carried out. This may involve needing to re-check and approve proofs, or data figures or similar very urgently – but it is important that you still ensure that quality assurance checks are carried out to prevent any further errors.

For more information about proof checking see our guidance on quality assurance.

You will also need to consider what additional communications may be needed for electors or candidates and agents as a result of the issue; again this is something that Commission contacts can help you think through, so it is important that you contact us to discuss at the earliest opportunity.

Depending on the decision you make as the result of any issue, you may need to read our guidance on re-issuing as a result of a procedural error.

As part of your planning for the delivery of key processes, you will have made decisions on the process to follow when you receive completed postal votes. 

This section includes further guidance relating to the processes you must follow on receipt of completed postal votes, including managing the postal opening process and the records you must keep as part of this process. 

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 buildings in the constituency, for it to be treated as duly returned. You should date and time stamp postal ballot packs upon receipt. 

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 they must still be permitted to return their postal ballot pack.1

Postal ballot packs can only be returned by either:

• hand or post to you as the relevant RO or an appointed deputy
• by hand to any polling station in the relevant electoral area

Secure storage of returned postal ballots 

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

All postal votes received, must be stored in appropriate receptacles.2 You must take proper precautions for the safe custody of these receptacles.3  

The methods of storage and transportation should be such that you can be satisfied that the returned postal ballots are kept securely and cannot be interfered with.

Postal ballot boxes and packets for returned postal votes

You must have two types of ballot box for securely storing returned postal votes:4  

• the postal voters’ ballot box
• the postal ballot box

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

• rejected votes 
• ballot paper envelopes
• rejected ballot paper envelopes
• rejected votes (verification procedure)
• postal voting statements (verification procedure)

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 as postal voting statements are returned.5

Postal voters’ ballot box

The postal voters’ ballot box is used to store any 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 must also be placed in the postal voters’ ballot box.6

All postal voters’ ballot boxes must be marked with the words postal voters ballot box / blwch pleidleisio pleidleiswyr drwy’r post and the name of the constituency.7  

You must take proper precautions to ensure the safe custody of the postal voters’ ballot box.8 You should seal the postal voters’ ballot box and store it in a secure place until the next scheduled opening of postal votes. 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/blwch pleidleisio drwy’r post and the name of the constituency.9

All postal ballot boxes must be stored securely until the count. Any agents present at a postal vote opening are entitled to add their seals to postal ballot boxes if they wish.10  

Postal votes handed in to the polling station 

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

You should put arrangements in place to collect postal votes from polling stations at various points throughout polling day. This will help to avoid receiving large quantities of those postal votes at the count and should help to reduce the risk of delays to the start time of the count. 

You should provide polling stations with sufficient packets for received postal votes. These packets should be clearly labelled as containing postal votes and include the name of the polling station and polling station identifier.

More guidance on dealing with postal votes returned to polling stations can be found in our polling station handbook. 

You can find the Senedd Polling station handbook in the planning section of our resource page.

Number and timing of postal vote opening sessions

As part of your planning, you will need to identify the number of postal vote opening sessions that you think you will require, where 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 information 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 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 additional postal vote opening sessions are found to be required. 

You must give each individual and party list candidate and the election agent for each party standing at least 48 hours’ notice, in writing, of the time(s) and location(s) 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  

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
• Party list candidates and Individual candidates
• An individual candidates election agent or a person appointed by the individual candidate to attend in the election agents place
• A party list election agent or a person appointed by the Nominating Officer to attend in the election agents place
• Postal voting agents 
• Commission representatives
• Accredited observers

The postal vote opening process should be transparent and ensure all those entitled to attend are 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 also 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. For more information see our guidance on checking personal identifiers. 

Everyone attending a postal vote opening session, including your staff must:

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

You can find the postal voting secrecy requirements in the absent voting section of our resources page.

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 ascertain the candidate or the party for whom any vote is given on any particular ballot paper 
• communicate any such information obtained at those proceedings5

Equipment 

You should also 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
• laptops and/or computers
• rejected stamp and pad
• assorted stationery

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 election which includes details as to the postal ballot papers.1 The records you keep will be essential for the 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 the figures required for 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 and use this record for audit purposes and check it against the number of envelopes counted at opening
• complete a postal vote ballot paper account for every postal ballot box - we have provided a template postal vote ballot paper account
• prepare a list recording: 
  • the total number of postal votes placed in each postal ballot box
  • the total number of postal voters ballot boxes
• batch ballot papers to ensure that you are able to retrieve and cancel any particular ballot paper as required for example, if you have had to re-issue following a procedural error

For more 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 can find a template ballot paper account in the absent voting section of our resources page.

You must mark the postal voters’ list or postal proxy voters’ list, whenever a postal voting statement is returned, regardless of whether or not it is accompanied by a ballot paper.1 The mark must be distinguishable from and not obscure the mark made when the postal vote was issued.2  

Confirming to voters their postal vote has been returned

The information in this section explains how to deal with requests for confirmation of receipt of postal voting statements and you must have regard to this.3

At any time between the first issue or postal ballots and the close of poll, a postal or proxy postal voter can request that you confirm:4

• whether their elector number on the list has been marked to show a postal vote has been returned
• whether the number of the ballot paper issued to them has been recorded on either of the lists of provisionally rejected votes

You can do this by checking the marked postal voter or proxy postal voter lists.

A request, made by an elector or proxy who has voted by post, for confirmation as to whether their postal vote has been returned, must:5

• be made by the method you have specified 
• include any evidence of the voter’s identity you request

You could, for example, ask for their name, address and date of birth before providing the information.

The processes for opening postal ballot packs is set out in legislation.1

Stage 1 - Opening of the postal voters’ ballot box

• count and record the number of returned postal ballot packs (i.e., the number of covering envelopes in the postal voters’ ballot box)
• open covering envelope and check it contains a postal voting statement and ballot paper envelope
  • if the envelope contains a postal voting statement:2
    • place a mark in the postal voters’ list or postal proxy voters’ list as appropriate to show that a postal voting statement has been returned3
  • if the covering envelope does not contain a postal voting statement:4
    • mark the covering envelope with the words provisionally rejected/ gwrthodwyd dros dro, attach its contents and place in the receptacle for rejected votes

Stage 2 - Checking the personal identifiers5  

You must be satisfied that the postal voting statement is duly completed. You must:

• check that the elector has signed the statement and given a date of birth
• check the signature and date of birth on the postal voting statement matches those on the personal identifiers record
  • if you are satisfied that the postal voting statement is duly completed:6
    • check the number on the postal voting statement matches the number on the ballot paper envelope (envelope A)7
    • place the statement in the receptable for postal voting statements (verification procedure)
    • place the ballot paper envelope in the receptable for ballot paper envelopes
  • if you are not satisfied that the postal voting statement has been duly completed:8
    • reject the postal voting statement, you must mark the statement rejected/gwrthodwyd, attach to it the ballot paper envelope (if there is no such envelope you must attach it to the ballot paper) and place it in the receptacle for rejected votes (verification procedure)
    • before placing it in the receptacle rejected votes(verification procedure), you must show it to any agents present, permit them to view the entries in the personal identifiers record which relate to the person to whom the postal voting statement was addressed and, if any of them object to your decision, add the words rejection objected to/gwrthwynebwyd y gwrthodiad on the postal voting statement. You should also record the reason for the rejection

Stage 3 - Opening of postal ballot paper envelopes9  

• open the ballot paper envelope (envelope A) and remove the ballot paper ensuring the ballot paper is kept face down at all times10
• check the number on the ballot paper envelope (envelope A) matches the number on the back of the ballot paper
• place the ballot paper in postal ballot box(es)
• if the ballot paper number on the ballot paper envelope does not match number on back to the ballot paper, add the words provisionally rejected/gwrthodwyd dros dro, attach to the ballot paper envelope and place in the receptacle for rejected votes
• if the ballot paper envelope does not contain a ballot paper, write on the ballot paper envelope that the ballot paper is missing, add the words provisionally rejected and place in receptacle for rejected ballot paper envelopes/gwrthodwyd dros dro

Stage 4 - Sealing the postal ballot boxes

• count and record the number of postal ballot papers to be sealed in each postal ballot box
• seal and securely store the postal ballot box(es)11

You can find a postal vote opening flowchart in the absent voting section of our resources page.

You should batch ballot papers in such a way as to ensure that you will be able to retrieve and cancel any particular ballot paper (for example, because you have had to re-issue following a procedural error).

For this reason, and because of the need to verify the contents of all postal ballot boxes at the verification, you should consider how many ballot papers you want to store in each box.

Matching up postal voting statements with postal ballot papers12

You must keep two lists of provisionally rejected postal ballot papers:

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

You can find a postal vote matching spreadsheet in the absent voting section of our resources page.

You should check these lists regularly to ensure that any mismatched documents can be matched up, enabling those postal ballots to be re-introduced into the process.

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

You must be satisfied that the postal voting statement is duly completed. You must compare the date of birth and the signature on the postal voting statement against the date of birth and signature contained in the personal identifiers record relating the person the postal ballot paper was addressed.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 Commission and Forensic Science Service guidance on signature checking, and instruct them to follow it.

You can find the Forensic Science Service guidance on signature checking in the absent voting section of our resources page. 

Your decision on determining on 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. Another example may be that an elector has contacted you to say that they have broken their arm since supplying their identifiers to the ERO and is 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. If they object to a rejection, the postal voting statement must be marked rejection objected to/gwrthwynebwyd y gwrthodiad before being attached to the ballot paper envelope and placed in the receptacle for rejected votes.4

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 papers. 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 processes you should keep the number of postal votes that have still to be opened during the verification and count to a minimum. You should ensure that any packets of 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. For more information see our guidance on 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:

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

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 their postal voting statement being rejected.1 You must keep a record of the categories under which you are rejecting individual postal voting statements to enable this.2

Every rejected postal voting statement within the receptable for rejected votes must be accounted for.3

This list must contain, for each such rejected postal voting statement:4

• 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 
• any other information relating to the rejection of the postal voting statement that you consider appropriate, but not the ballot paper number

The specified reasons for rejection of a postal voting statement are:5

• 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 because their statement has been rejected, the ERO is required to notify the postal voter of the rejection within three months of the date of poll.6   

The ERO’s requirement to send a notification is suspended if:7

• the person is no longer shown as voting by post in the relevant list at the time the notification is sent
• you suspect that an offence may have been committed in relation to a particular postal vote

You should therefore check the relevant records before sending the notification that the person is still a postal voter or a proxy voting by post. This should be done at the same time as you forward all other election documents to the ERO. 

You should also keep a record of any instances where you suspect an offence may have been committed for the ERO, so that they know in which cases they should not send out a postal vote identifier rejection notice. 

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 possible, make a note of each person who has handled the postal ballot pack.

For more information see our guidance for EROs on issuing postal vote identifier rejection notices.

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 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.

As part of your planning, you will have considered any known risks to specific polling stations in your area and made arrangements with the Presiding Officer and police as appropriate. Guidance for how Presiding Officers deal with specific issues in the polling station are covered in the polling station handbook. 

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

You can find the Senedd polling station handbook in the polling station voting section of our resource page.

You can find guidance on the identification of suitable polling stations in our planning guidance for Returning Officers.

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 screens
• the relevant part of the register
• absent voters lists – postal voters’, proxy voters and postal proxies
• form 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)
• corresponding number list(s)
• ballot paper accounts
• an enlarged sample copy 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) notice (to be displayed inside and outside every polling station)
• Instructions for voters notices (to be displayed inside the polling booth)
• declaration by companions of voters with disabilities
• 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
• 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 the close of poll
• the statement of parties and persons nominated (to be printed in conspicuous characters and exhibited inside and outside every polling station) 
• any additional equipment you have determined necessary to make voting easier and more accessible for disabled voters e.g. badges identifying polling station staff

You must also 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 requirements.2

In addition, you should provide:

• 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(es)
• 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

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 would need to be trained on how to use these at the briefing session.

We have 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 in the reviewing the election section.

You should check that all polling station equipment is fit for purpose and that you have sufficient quantities This should include considering how many ballot boxes to use, as one box may not be sufficient should there be a high turnout. All ballot boxes provided for use in polling stations must be locked or sealed as appropriate by polling station staff at the start of the poll.3

Each box should be clearly marked with the election to which it relates. 

You should have prepared your polling station equipment and materials in good time before polling day, for either delivery to polling stations or collection by Presiding Officers.

You must provide each polling station with such number of ballot papers that you think may be necessary.1 If you are not allocating ballot papers for 100% of electors entitled to vote in person at the polling stations careful consideration needs to be given to the number that will be required in each case. 

As part of your consideration, you should estimate expected turnout levels. You should assume that the turnout will be not less than the turnout at the most recent scheduled elections, 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 eligible 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 to any polling station in a timely manner that may require them.  

You should also ensure that Presiding Officers understand how to complete the ballot paper accounts to take account of the additional allocation. 

When allocating ballot papers to polling stations, 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(s) or ballot paper accounts. For more information on the printing of ballot papers see our guidance on 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 be opened and the ballot papers within it issued in limited, prescribed circumstances after consultation with the elections office
• a brief description of those circumstances
• instructions to consult the polling station handbook for further information

You can find the Senedd polling station handbook in the polling station voting section of our resource page. 

You must provide each Presiding Officer with the appropriate part of the register for their polling station and appropriate absent voting lists.1 The register can be provided in paper or electronic form.2

Polling station staff should have been trained on the various franchise markers that will appear on the register. They need to be aware of the importance of the security of voters’ personal details on the electoral register and absent voting lists.

Printed copies of the polling station registers can be printed once the final election notice of alteration has been published, five working days before polling day. However, you should ensure that all 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

You should instruct your Presiding Officers to check that:

• they have been provided with the correct register for their polling station and  
• 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 proxy lists as a result of correcting clerical errors, granting of emergency proxy applications, or court decisions on registration appeals
• for communicating the relevant information to Presiding Officers, which may be done orally or in writing

If a person makes a complaint to polling station staff that suggests that they should be on the electoral register, the Presiding Officer should communicate that representation to the ERO as soon as is practicable. For this to work effectively there will need to be suitable communication systems in place between Presiding Officers and the ERO.

More information about clerical errors can be found in our guidance for EROs. 

For more information on training 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 or a form to like effect.2

There are two types of corresponding number list: one list to be used at polling stations, containing the ballot paper numbers and a column to add the elector numbers of voters to whom those ballot papers are issued.

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 issuing process please see our guidance on issuing and distributing postal votes.

Postal voters can return their postal vote by hand to any polling station in the constituency.1

You should make sure polling station staff can 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 must provide polling stations with packets for received postal votes.1 The number and style of packets should, as a minimum, be based on returns at the last equivalent polls, but you should keep in mind the potential for late engagement and interest in the election, and any local or national issues which may affect turnout. 

Records of all such packets should be kept so that each one can be accounted for. The packets should be clearly labelled and state:

• they contain postal votes
• the name of the polling station and 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.1

As part of your training you should emphasise to Presiding Officers the importance of maintaining the security of postal votes returned to polling stations. Postal votes 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 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.

You should prepare a polling station log for polling station staff to use to record any problems or anomalies. 

You should instruct polling station staff to record in the polling station log:

• any instances where they are required to ask the prescribed questions as a result of suspected personation. This should be done once the person in question has left the polling station. They should record as much information as possible, for example, any distinguishing characteristics, which may help any future investigation. The polling station handbook sets out the procedure for dealing with personation, which involves asking the prescribed questions.  
• the name and address of any voter who is unable to vote for any administrative reason
• anything that may help to explain any issues with the ballot paper accounts at the verification- for example, if a voter has been seen leaving the polling station with a ballot paper. You should consider instructing Presiding Officers to keep the log and ballot paper accounts together when delivering the ballot papers to the count.
• the details of those who are present in polling stations for the purpose of observing proceedings, including visits from the police and RO staff
• any times when they temporarily limited the number of observers that can stay in the polling station, to ensure that the poll can proceed effectively
• instances where they observe someone attempting to accompany a voter into the voting booth who is not their appointed companion or a child, and the actions that followed
• any feedback on the use of any specific equipment provided to the polling station
• useful details of any difficult situations encountered

If you are concerned that personation may have taken place at a polling station you should contact your police single point of contact (SPOC) and you can also contact your Electoral Commission’s Wales team for additional support. For more information see our guidance on maintaining the integrity of the election.

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 required furniture and equipment, as well as where all of the notices should be displayed, along with the placement of signage within the polling station and external signage.

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.

You can find the Senedd polling station handbook in the polling station voting section of our resources page.

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 the following checklist to support their visits. 

You can find the Checklist for Polling Station Inspectors in the polling station voting section of our resources page.

You can find more information on 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

You must produce and display, in English and Welsh, the Guidance for voters notice and the Instructions for voters notice. The contents and display requirements of these notices are prescribed in legislation.1

The statement of parties and persons nominated must be printed in conspicuous characters and displayed inside and outside every polling station.2

Use of English or Welsh in polling stations

When you brief polling station staff you should make clear that only English or Welsh should be used when assisting or giving instructions to electors in polling stations. This will ensure 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 Welsh language skills. You should consider what support you are able to provide to 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 you (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 the risk that someone taking a photo inside a polling station may be in breach of the law, 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. 

You can find the Polling station staff briefing in the polling station voting section of our resources page. 

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 ballot papers.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 Single Point of Contact 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.

You can find the Senedd polling station handbook in the polling station voting section of our resources page.

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 the collation of the result as well as developing plans for 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 to ensure that there is transparency in the process and enabling you to deliver an accurate result in which voters, political parties and candidates have confidence.

You are responsible for the verification of the ballot paper accounts and the counting of the votes for your constituency.1

There are a variety of ways in which the verification and count can be organised across the constituency. You will need to decide which is the best option for your area, based on the local circumstances of your constituency, as part of your planning for how you will safely and securely deliver the verification and count processes. 

When deciding how to organise the verification and count processes for the constituency, you will need to consider other practical factors which might affect the organisation and timing of the verification, count and result collation, such as:

• the size of the constituency
• whether the constituency covers more than one local authority
• the geography of the constituency
• size and capacity of venues
• turnout
• the ability to ensure transparency for candidates, agents and observers
• the cost of using the venue(s)

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 reviewing your plans at the close of nominations when the number of candidates is finalised and revisiting your assumptions on turnout, speed and capability of count staff and expected timing for completing the various count stages in light of this.

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, or if any known risks materialise and should cover 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 candidates, agents and the media informed of the progress of the count.

In developing your plans, you should have regard to the Commission’s principles for a well-run verification and count and consider other practical factors that may affect the organisation and timing of the verification and count. For more information see our guidance on verifying and counting the votes. 

These are some of the key factors you will need to consider in deciding how to organise and manage the verification and counting of the votes in your constituency: 

Consistency of approach: Local authorities and their staff who you may have appointed as deputies will have past experience of running election counts in their area and will have their own processes and workflows that they are used to following. While this knowledge and experience will be useful in helping to decide how best to organise and manage the verification and count, you should consider how you will ensure consistency in the approach to verification and count across the constituency, regardless of where the processes are to be carried out.

Staff resources and availability: The identification, recruitment and training of sufficient numbers of capable staff to conduct the count will also be a key consideration. For example, depending on the geography of the constituency, it may be more difficult to recruit the necessary numbers of suitable staff to work in a central location than it would be to recruit people to work at a venue closer to their home, who may also be experienced staff who have worked on election counts in the past.

Deployment of staff: You should also consider how to make the most efficient use of staff. If count staff are in one central location they can be deployed flexibly to maximise productivity in the interests of a timely outcome to the count. If staff are at separate local count centres it is likely that count staff in some areas may have completed the process while others are still counting. You will need to consider how to ensure that the count arrangements enable all constituent local authority areas to complete their counting within a reasonable time of each other.

Venues: Any venues used will need to be of a sufficient size and capacity to accommodate the necessary processes and staff and enable processes to be carried out effectively and in clear view of those entitled to attend, taking into account potential media attendance at the declaration of the result. Other local authorities within your constituency will already have venues (and reserve venues) that they have used in the past and are familiar with, along with the verification and count workflows and layouts that work for those venues. If you are using a central venue, the scale of the space needed will depend on the size(s) of the constituency and number of electors. You will also need to identify and put in place contingency arrangements, which may include identifying suitable venues of an equivalent size and capacity in case of the loss of a venue.

Transmission of local totals: Appointed deputies will need to transmit local totals to the RO to enable the constituency result to be calculated. You will need to ensure that you provide instructions on the method to be used for transmitting the information accurately and securely and carry out a test of the process in advance. There are greater risks with this process if counting is carried out locally, for example, as a result of technical issues. You will need to develop contingency arrangements to be deployed in the event of technical problems occurring.

Security and logistics: You should ensure that ballot papers are stored securely at all times. This will be an important consideration in any proposals that would require ballot boxes to be transported to a central venue, or between venues after being verified. You should consider carefully the potential security risks associated with the transportation of ballot boxes and the associated logistical challenges, including how to ensure that, where polls are combined, the correct ballot papers for each poll are in the right place so that all ballot papers can be included in the appropriate count.

Your decisions as to when, where and how the votes are to be verified and counted should be taken in accordance with the principles and considerations set out in this guidance. Once you have made your decisions you should consider how best to ensure that plans for managing and resourcing verification and counting processes will achieve these principles in practice.

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 parties, individual 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 to inform your decision-making, ultimately the responsibility for making decisions remains with you as RO. You will need to decide the best way to communicate these decisions once taken.

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 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.

You can find this checklist in the verification and count section of the resources page.

We have also developed guidance to support you should you need to procure any equipment. 

You should ensure that your verification and count arrangements can deliver the 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 party or candidate and rejected votes matches the total number of ballot papers given on the verification statement 
  • the verification, count and result collation 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
  • communication of information at the verification and count venue(s) is clear and timely

In developing a result collation process, you will need to consider each key stage that contributes to the overall result. 

If the verification and count is not centralised, additional considerations will include verification of the ballot papers and counting the votes in other local authority areas within the constituency, collating local totals and communicating those results. You should ensure that these processes are organised, managed and delivered in such a way as to ensure these principles can be met.

The EMB may provide a direction and/or guidance on the timing of the count.

If a direction is not provided you must make arrangements for the verification of the ballot paper accounts and counting the votes as soon as practicable after the close of poll.1

Decisions on the timing of the count should be made before the notice of election is published so that you can inform those with an interest, including political parties and broadcasters, at an early stage. There will be an expectation among political parties, candidates and the media that the results will be declared as soon as possible after the close of poll. You will therefore need to plan carefully how to manage the expectations of parties, candidates and the media. 

You will need to consider the timing of the verification, count and result collation across the constituency, and, if local counts are taking place, how you will ensure you are able to deliver to expected timings for the whole process to be completed. 

The overarching principle that should underpin your decision-making in relation to the timings of election counts is the need to ensure an accurate result in which voters, political parties and candidates have confidence. 

You need to ensure that you are confident that both your, and where applicable, any local count processes are managed and resourced in a way that enables counting to produce a timely outcome. 

Methodology

The way that you decide to organise and manage the verification and count in the constituency 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 that 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.

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
• 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 - 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 the ERO 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 ERO to obtain the registration data.

You should ensure that everyone who wants to observe the verification and count can do so safely and 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.

For information on attendance at the collation of result, see our guidance.

The following people are entitled by law to attend the verification and count:1

• you and your staff
• each party list and individual candidate
• one guest per party list candidate and one guest per individual candidate
• election agents
• counting agents
• Commission representatives
• accredited observers
• constables and PCSOs on duty
• any other person permitted by you to attend
  • you need to be satisfied that any person permitted by you to attend will not impede the verification or efficient counting of votes and that you have either consulted the election agents or decided 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 arrangements to ensure that all attendees (other than constables on duty) are provided with a copy of the relevant secrecy requirements.3

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.4

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

Counting agents are entitled to:

• draw to your attention any doubtful ballot papers
• disagree with a decision made by you to reject a ballot paper and you must mark that ballot paper as 'rejection objected to' / 'gwrthwynebwyd y gwrthodiad'
• add their own seals when you seal the ballot boxes and envelopes if a count is suspended for any reason or there is a break in proceedings

In particular, where votes are counted by sorting the ballot papers according to party and individual 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 a notice to counting agents of the time and place at which the verification and counting of votes will start.3

You may limit the number of counting agents, but in doing so must ensure that:4  

• the number is the same in the case of each individual candidate or political party
• the number allowed must not (except in special circumstances) be less than the number obtained by dividing the number of count staff by the number of individual candidates and parties

Further information can be found in our guidance on the appointment of counting agents.

Accredited observers

Electoral observation is a legitimate and valuable part of the electoral process, and care should be taken not to hinder or obstruct the conduct of any observers. 

While you are permitted to remove an observer for misconduct, and/or limit the number of observers who may be present at any one time during the verification and count, you should exercise caution in doing so.1

You are not entitled to bar all observers from the verification and count; only to limit the number of observers present at any one time, and you should apply this discretion reasonably. 

If you suspend access, or remove an accredited observer from the verification or count, you should ensure there is an audit trail to support your decision. A template observer access restrictions log is available for this purpose.

You can find the template observer access restrictions log in the verification and count section of our resource page.

When managing the attendance of observers you must have regard to the Commission’s Code of practice for observers.2 Should you experience any issues with observers attending the count, contact the Commission‘s Wales team at the earliest opportunity.

Commission representatives

Commission representatives are entitled to attend the verification and count and to observe your working practices. 

They can ask questions of your staff, but will not do so if this would obstruct or disturb the conduct of proceedings. 

You are not allowed to limit the number of Commission representatives at the verification and count.3   

Further information can be found in our guidance on the appointment of accredited observers and Commission representatives.

You should include space and opportunity for the media to report on the result of the election. 

You have discretion to decide which representatives of the media you allow to attend.1 A range of organisations or individuals across print, broadcast, online, podcast or social media platforms may request to attend the count. There are several factors you could take into account when deciding who to allow, including whether they represent a bona fide media organisation, are regulated by Ofcom, IPSO or Impress, and the reach of their organisation. Whichever criteria you use should be applied fairly and consistently across all requests. You may also wish to agree a policy about whether media staff associated with parties or candidates taking part in the election are permitted to attend in a media capacity. Again, this should be applied consistently.

As with all attendees, you must ensure that media representatives do not interfere with the process or compromise the secrecy of the vote.

In preparation for representatives of the media attending your verification and count you should consider:

• contacting principal broadcast organisations in advance
• outlining the press facilities available
• arranging for sound systems to be used for the announcements and for any live feeds
• providing an opportunity for media representatives to inspect the verification and count venue to see what space and facilities are available, and give them the opportunity to raise any issues or requirements with you, including any technical requirements to avoid problems on the night and allow provision to be made in the layout of the venue
• how you will ensure 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

Throughout the proceedings you should ensure that the media representatives are aware of:

• the arrangements for the declaration of results, such as alerting them shortly before the results are to be declared so they can move into position and providing them with written copies of the results
• the arrangements for sound systems to be used for the announcements and for any live feeds and who to approach if they are asked any technical electoral questions
• the expected finish and declaration time
• the nominated media spokesperson for the count who will be available to deal with media enquiries

To assist you and your public relations team we have produced, jointly with the national TV news broadcasters, some tips for managing the media at the count.

You can find the Tips on managing the media at the count document in the verification and count section of our resource page. 

The Commission will produce a media handbook that you can include with any information pack you are producing for the media attending the verification and count.

You have a responsibility to ensure the secure, safe and effective delivery of the verification and count process. As part of this you will have undertaken risk assessments and put in place the necessary security measures to manage attendance at verification and the count.

Tickets or entrance passes should be issued to everyone entitled to attend the count, except accredited observers and Commission representatives who will be wearing silver or pink accreditation badges. You should consider issuing different-coloured tickets or passes to identify the different categories of attendees.

Controlling admission

You should provide lists of those people entitled to attend the verification and count to those on duty at the entrance and instruct security staff to check the tickets or passes of anyone seeking to attend.

However, security staff should also be briefed that Commission representatives and accredited observers do not need to provide advance notification of where they intend to observe and therefore may not appear on their list but are nevertheless entitled to access the verification and count venue on production of their observer or Commission representative identification badge.

You should, for health, safety and security reasons, record the names of everyone who actually attends the verification and count.

Additionally, your risk assessment may have identified security concerns which justify the need for all attendees to undergo additional checks, such as requiring attendees to show ID and bag checks before being allowed entry, and this can include Commission representatives and accredited observers.

You should liaise with the Police to check that their plans for managing the public space outside the count venue will enable people entitled to attend the count to enter and leave the venue freely and without obstruction.

Managing attendees

All attendees need to know what to expect and to understand their role at the verification and count. The plans should include mechanisms for communicating with and managing the expectations of those attending. The plans should also cover how you will maintain the secrecy of the vote throughout the verification and count. 

You should ensure that all attendees at the count, including candidates, their guests, election agents, counting agents and the media, are briefed on and fully understand the process for conducting the count and the standards of behaviour which are expected of them at all times.

Your written and face-to-face briefings should make it clear that you will be excluding attendees from the count venue if their behaviour interferes with the effective conduct of the count, including the declaration of the results. This should help count staff to carry out verification and count activities without interference from counting agents and other observers. Where you think there is a need to contact police due to a disruptive individual, you should do so on 999.

You should also decide on a policy for the use of mobile phones and photography or filming in the verification and count venue and provide this information in advance ot those who are entitled to attend. This should include any rules around the filming of photographing of staff carrying out their duties, in line with your plans for maintaining the security and safety of the verification and count and those attending. 

Good communication at party, 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 about the process can also help to lower the number of queries raised by candidates and agents, in particular from new or inexperienced parties and 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 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 local count totals where applicable or the result so attendees can make their way to the declaration area
• to notify attendees of any delays

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 local verification and count processes
• 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 venue facilities and general rules, including that smoking is not allowed within the building, and any policy regarding refreshments
• policies for conduct during the verification and count at the venue, such as use of mobile phones, taking photographs, and whether there are any items you have decided to prohibit from the venue as a result of your risk assessment
• security arrangements for attendance at the verification and count
• expected behaviour of attendees during the delivery of verbal announcements
• 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.

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
• 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 are informed by your estimated timing of when the last ballot boxes for the poll are likely to arrive

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 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 in place for drivers to alert you to any delays.

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.

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. 

For more information see our guidance on ensuring the security of ballot papers and other materials. 

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 guidance on equipment and materials to be provided for the polling station.

In conjunction with your police Single Point of Contact, 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 can find the polling station handbook in the verification and count section of our resources page. 

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.

If the venue for counting the votes is different from the verification venue you must seal the relevant ballot papers into ballot boxes or another suitable container, and allow agents to attach their seals. You must comply with any requirements in the election rules such as endorsing a description of the area to which the ballot papers relate on the ballot boxes and ensuring that all the required materials and paperwork are delivered to the count venue along with the ballot papers.

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.

You can find this checklist in the verification and count section of our resource page. 

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. 

You should organise the packets and parcels from polling stations so that you can easily locate any packet and make arrangements for the receipt of any electronic devices and files that are in use in place of physical documents.

The sacks containing the documents that need to be stored 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 secured 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. 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.1

You should take all necessary steps to ensure the security of ballot papers and relevant stationery from close of poll through to the declaration of the result, particularly where ballot papers need to be transported from the verification to the count or where a break in proceedings will require the ballots to be stored between the conclusion of the verification and the commencement of the count.1

If you need to store ballot papers, you must store them in sealed ballot boxes in a secure place, allowing agents to attach their seals to the ballot boxes.2 You should always 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 papers and the ballot boxes.

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.

You can liaise with your local police Single Point of Contact (SPOC) when deciding on the most appropriate method for ensuring secure storage, and should ensure you brief candidates and agents about your arrangements, so that they can have confidence in the integrity of the count.

You will also need to ensure any personal data is destroyed at the appropriate time, in accordance with your document retention policy.

Securing ballot papers during breaks in proceedings

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 must 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.3

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.

Securing ballot papers in the event of evacuation from the venue

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.

The verification of the used, unused and spoilt ballot papers is a legal requirement, and is central to the declaration of accurate results.1

You must verify each ballot paper account and draw up a statement as to the result of the verification.2 This is a record of the number of ballot papers expected and the number of ballot papers counted, along with an explanation for any variances.

As with all aspects of the verification and count process, transparency is key and the process followed should be clear to all present.

The key stages of the verification process are described in the following table:

Cross-checking processes

It is easy for simple arithmetic or transposition errors to be made, particularly when people become tired. You therefore need to put in place processes to mitigate this risk, such as ensuring that the recording of figures and every calculation is checked by more than one person.

The ballot papers are placed into bundles at various stages of the verification and it is important that procedures are put in place to double-check that the bundles have the correct number of ballot papers in them and, at the count stage, that they contain no more votes than the maximum allowed. This will be crucial to the accuracy of the verification and count.

You should make staff aware of this during briefings/training and senior staff should be alert to this at all times and intervene immediately if this is not being done.

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 checklist for the steps to take when dealing with ballot box variances.

You can find this checklist in the verification and count section of our resource page.

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. 

Verification statement

You must ensure that the verification statement containing the result of the verification of each ballot box is completed.

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.1 You should sign the statements.

Any agent may make a copy of the statement as to the result of the verification and, to promote confidence in the result, you should make copies available for the agents present once verification has been completed.2

The verification statement is a key communication tool that will help to ensure that candidates and agents are confident that the processes at the verification and count are transparent and that they will produce an accurate result.

Count staff should arrive at the times agreed by you in advance and should check the count stationery and equipment is present. 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.

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 political party or individual candidate (as appropriate). Any doubtful ballot papers should be placed aside for adjudication.

The number of votes given for each political party or individual candidate should then be counted and placed into bundles of predetermined number, e.g. bundles of 20, 25, 50 or 100. 

A slip or card bearing the name of the political party or the individual candidate’s name, together with the number in the bundle, should be attached 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.

It is unlikely that the number of votes in the final bundle will equal the predetermined bundle number, and so a note should be made of the number of votes in those incomplete bundles and attached to the front of the bundle.

You should adjudicate doubtful ballot papers regularly as the count proceeds. You should not leave this until the end of the count. 

If you plan to use more than one area for adjudication, you must clearly announce this to those entitled to observe the process.

You should have regard to the Commission’s booklet on doubtful ballot papers for Senedd elections 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.

You can find the doubtful ballot papers booklet in the verification and count section of our resource page.

You can also find examples of allowed and rejected ballot papers on the doubtful ballot paper placemat, provided below, which you should have on display at the count for parties, candidates, agents and observers to refer to.

You can find the doubtful ballot paper placemat in the verification and count section of our resource page. 

Once all of the ballot papers have been sorted and any doubtful ballots adjudicated, the key task of reconciliation can begin.

You must count all of the bundles and part bundles of ballot papers showing a valid vote for each candidate.

You must then add the total for each political party or individual 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 candidates and agents on the provisional result.

If the figures do not agree you should follow the procedure for unreconciled results. 

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.

You should be satisfied that the number of votes for each political party and individual candidate is accurate before proceeding to a provisional result.

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 result you provide.

Once you are satisfied, you must advise party list candidates, individual candidates, their counting agents and election agents of the provisional result. You should make it clear that the candidates, election agents or, in their absence, any authorised counting agent are entitled to request a recount.1  

You must give the candidates and agents sufficient time to digest the provisional result before proceeding. It is at this point that any candidate or election agent may request to have the votes recounted or, following a recount, recounted again.2

You must consider any recount request but by law may refuse if, in your opinion, the request is unreasonable.3 You may, however, consider offering the candidates and agents the opportunity to inspect the bundles of ballot papers as a means of reassuring them that the result if accurate.

You should ensure that all processes are transparent and carried out in clear view of all those entitled to attend, with information provided to attendees on the processes to be followed.

The following people are entitled to attend the collation of results:1

• you and members of your staff
• each individual and party list candidate and one other person chosen by each of them 
• election agents 
• Electoral Commission representatives
• accredited observers

You may only permit other people to attend if you are satisfied that the efficiency of the calculation will not be impeded, and you have consulted the election agents or thought it impractical to do so.2  

You must give election agents notification in writing of the time and place at which the results collation will begin.3

You must give those entitled to attend reasonable facilities for overseeing the proceedings and all such information about them, including for satisfying themselves that the ascertainment of the result is accurate.4 You should also ensure that anyone else who is entitled to attend has an unrestricted view of the proceedings, while also ensuring that they will not be able to interfere with the work of your staff.

Additionally, your risk assessment may have identified security concerns which justify the need for all attendees to undergo additional checks, such as requiring attendees to show ID and bag checks before being allowed entry, and this can include Commission representatives and accredited observers.

Good communication at candidate and agent and media briefings in advance of the result collation and at the event itself, will allow those present to properly scrutinise the proceedings and will help to build confidence that the result is accurate. Providing information on the processes to be followed can also help to lower the number of queries raised by candidates and agents, the media and other attendees.

You should ensure that you have prepared appropriate information to explain the processes you are going to follow during the result collation to any candidates, agents, observers and media who are present. As a minimum you should explain your role and identify, where appropriate, your deputies and key result collation staff and explain their roles. You should also explain how the result collation and allocation of the seats process will work, including how this relates to the verification and counting of votes across the constituency and set out the key stages in the process.

You should make announcements at the start of the event and regularly during proceedings to keep attendees informed about what is happening where and when. You should also announce at the start the expected time for the declaration of result. Attendees at the result collation should be kept informed throughout the process. 

If agents or observers are dissatisfied in any way with the manner in which the proceedings are being carried out, the opportunity should always be available for them to make direct representations to you, at the earliest opportunity, so that any concerns may be considered, explanations and reassurances given, and corrective action taken if necessary.

You should have a media plan in place, to ensure that your messages and approach to communication with the media at the verification, count and result collation are consistent. 

At the venue where the result will be calculated and declared, you should include space and opportunity for the media to report on the result. You have discretion to decide which representatives of the media you allow to attend. As with all attendees, you must ensure that media representatives do not interfere with the process or compromise the secrecy of the vote.

These should include ensuring that the venue has suitable space and equipment, that there are clear processes and resources in place for providing information to, and dealing with enquiries from, the media at the result collation. To assist you and your public relations team we have produced, jointly with the national TV news broadcasters, some ‘tips for managing the media at the count’.

You can find the tips on managing the media at the count document in the verification and count section of our resource page.

You should also make clear any policies you have for conduct during the verification and count at the venue, such as use of mobile phones, and taking photographs, and whether there are any items you have decided to prohibit from the venue as a result of your risk assessment and the expected behaviour of attendees during the delivery of verbal announcements.

You should ensure that there is consistent and transparent communication about the collation of the result. If verification and/or counting is being carried out at a central venue(s) you will need to provide information to attendees about those processes.

Where individual local counts are held, you should collate the local verification statements and count totals from each constituent local authority and calculate the overall result for the constituency. It is for you to determine how best to manage this process in your constituency.

You should follow these key steps to calculate the result of the poll.1

You must provisionally calculate the results of the poll and notify that provisional calculation (if present) to:2

• the election agent for a political party or in the absence of the agent, one of the candidates on the list
• an individual candidate or the candidate’s election agent