Nomination forms, the home address forms and consent to nomination forms must be delivered by hand1
and cannot be submitted by post, fax, email or other electronic means. Where a document is required to be delivered by hand, this can include delivery by a courier.
All emblem request forms and the certificate of authorisation for Mayor of London candidates may be delivered by hand or by post, but cannot be submitted by fax, email or other electronic means. The original version of each completed document must be submitted.2
A certificate of authorisation, for example, which has been sent as an attachment to an e-mail to be printed out would be a ‘copy document’ and not the original document.
A certificate requires a method of authentication to make it a certificate. This will, in practice in most cases, take the form of a signature to attest the truth of the facts stated. It could, however, also take the form of a seal.
Whatever method of authentication is used, the document you receive must3
be the original document and not a copy document.
You should take steps to communicate the requirements relating to delivery of nomination papers to all prospective parties, candidates and agents, and ensure that these requirements are highlighted in any briefings or guidance you produce.
Once a nomination paper has been formally delivered, no changes can be subsequently made to it (subject to your power to correct minor errors)4
.At the point of formal submission you should therefore endorse the paper with the date and time of delivery, so that you have a record of when each paper was formally submitted. If a candidate later decides that they want to make changes, for example to the description, they should withdraw their candidature and then submit new nomination papers within the statutory timeframe.
There is no provision to allow a subscriber to withdraw their signature from a nomination paper for the Mayor of London election once it has been delivered.