Guidance for Candidates and Agents at UK Parliamentary general elections in Northern Ireland Share on Email Print this page Print full guidance You are in the Postal votes section Guidance for Candidates and Agents at UK Parliamentary general elections in Northern Ireland Postal votes When are the postal votes opened and how will you know when an opening session if taking place? It is likely that several opening sessions will take place before polling day, as well as on polling day itself.The Returning Officer must:give candidates at least 48 hours’ notice of when and where the sessions will take place1 set out how many postal voting agents will be allowed to attend each sessionThe notices of each postal vote issue and opening will also be published on the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland's website.For more information on the process carried out at the opening of postal votes see Stages of the postal vote opening process. 1. Regulation 82 Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2008 ↩ Back to content at footnote 1 Last updated: 22 March 2024 Book traversal links for When are the postal votes opened and how will you know when an opening session if taking place? What does a postal voting agent do? Stages of the postal vote opening process