Combined Authority and Combined County Authority Returning Officer guidance for Combined Authority Mayoral elections

Local ROs at a standalone combined authority mayoral election, and the Returning Officer or Counting Officer taking on the combined functions where polls are combined, must publish a notice of the situation of polling stations for their area by no later than the time you publish the notice of poll).1 You should therefore let local ROs know when you are planning to publish the notice of poll.

Local ROs must give a copy of the notice of situation of polling stations to all election agents as soon as practicable after giving the notice and should also provide a copy to candidates and to you.2 The notice should also be made available to accredited observers on request.

As part of your consideration about how best to provide information to candidates and agents in a coordinated and consistent manner, you should liaise with the local ROs, and local government ROs (as appropriate) to decide how best they can discharge their duty to provide copies of the notice of situation of polling stations to candidates and agents, enabling them to easily access this information for the whole of the combined authority area. 

As part of your discussions, you should consider whether the notices will be collated and disseminated centrally by you.