Secure transport of the ballot boxes and other materials
In conjunction with your police SPOC, you should decide how you will ensure that ballot boxes and other materials are transported securely to the verification and count.
As part of this, you will need to assess if you have any areas of high risk which may, for example, require a police escort, security van or additional personnel to transfer the ballot boxes from the polling station to the verification venue/collection point following the close of poll.
Security in transit
You should ensure that Presiding Officers are clear about the rules and processes following the close of poll, including in relation to sealing the ballot boxes. Guidance on this is contained in the Commission’s polling station handbook. You should make clear to Presiding Officers that they should never leave the ballot boxes or other materials unattended and that, if they themselves are delivering the ballot boxes and materials to a collection point or the verification venue, that they should take steps to ensure their security throughout the journey, for example by locking their car doors and following any specific police advice.
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.
At the count venue, you should have robust arrangements to check in all the materials and paperwork delivered to ensure that nothing is missing.
Security at verification venue
You should make arrangements for how the ballot papers and other materials will be kept secure once they arrive at the verification and count venue(s), for example, by ensuring they are never left unattended.
These plans should also include the security of those materials that you must keep sealed (such as the corresponding numbers list), either by staff watching the materials or by securing them in a locked room.