Planning your approach to maintaining the integrity and security of the election
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) and force elected-official adviser. The SPOC is your contact for election-related crime, including allegations of fraud. The FEOA is a dedicated police contact for raising security concerns and sharing any relevant intelligence involving 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, including the SPOC and FEOA, 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:
an agreed approach for the notification and escalation of concerns to the relevant SPOC and FEOA
regular review of mitigations for specific risks that you have identified
establishing clear plans for the safe management of all electoral events including the verification and count
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
Specific integrity 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.