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

You must take appropriate steps to encourage the participation of electors in the election,1 and in carrying out such activity you must have regard to any guidance issued by the Electoral Commission. 

Part of this engagement activity should include how the local ROs in your area will communicate the voting process and support available for disabled voters in their areas. This should be both directly with local disability organisations and more general signposting to accessible communications, such as providing online versions of documents that are easy-read, compatible with screen-readers, or available in large print.

As CARO you should actively take the lead in promoting and sharing good practice and in coordinating awareness activity across the combined authority area.

Your planning should take into account the need to work with local ROs in your combined authority area to ensure that local area-wide awareness activity is coordinated and that clear, consistent messages are communicated effectively to electors.

When preparing the public awareness strategy for your combined authority area, you should consider and document:

• the identification of your target audience
• the objectives and success measures of the activity 
• any risks – and mitigation of those risks
• resources – both financial and staffing
• plans for collaborative working with relevant local partners, including experts in the communications department of your local authority

Implementation of your strategy should be included within your overall project plan.

You should establish a communications network involving a representative of each local RO in your combined authority area to share information and coordinate public awareness activity across the combined authority area. This network can also be used to ensure that any communication relating to specific aspects of the election, such as the verification and counting of votes or the declaration of result, or issues that arise, for example allegations of electoral fraud, are dealt with effectively and consistently across the combined authority area.