Guidance for (Acting) Returning Officers administering a UK Parliamentary election in Great Britain

Who must be sent a postal vote?

You must send a postal vote to:

• 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.1

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

Existing elector with existing postal voting arrangements

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

New electors who made postal vote applications alongside their registration application

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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