Guidance for Petition Officers
Daily verification of and storage of signing sheets
At the end of each day during the six week signing period1 for which the petition is open, the ballot box for each signing place must be opened and the contents counted.2
You must put arrangements in place for the daily verification, which can be done either:
- by the Petition Clerk at the signing place, as directed by you, or
- by you, following the transportation of the ballot box and other materials to a central venue
The only people who can attend the verification are you, petition clerks, appointed assistants and any representatives of the Electoral Commission.3 There is no provision for the MP or their representatives to attend.
The verification involves breaking the seal of the ballot box, emptying its contents and counting the number of signing sheets it contains. A daily signing sheet account must be completed, detailing the number of signing sheets issued, the number not issued, and the number of any spoilt and tendered sheets.
If you have directed that the daily verification takes place by the Petition Clerk at the signing place, you must ensure that another person appointed by you is present during the procedure. If an appointed person becomes unavailable, the ballot box and signing sheet accounts must be transported to you for the process to be undertaken centrally.
If the Petition Clerk identifies any discrepancies between the number of signing sheets in the ballot box and the number issued, they must report the discrepancy to you immediately.4
You will need to provide instructions to your petition clerks about the secure storage and/ or the transportation of materials used during the signing period.5
Where the ballot box and other materials are delivered to you to undertake the verification, you must keep the verified signing sheets securely until the end of the signing period.
If the signing sheets are delivered to you at the end of each day, you must make up and seal separate packets of the following:
- the verified signing sheets
- the spoilt signing sheets
- the tendered signing sheets
You must ensure that the completed daily signing sheet account and other materials are returned to the signing place so that the petition can be signed the following day.6
- 1. Section 9, Recall of MPs Act 2015 ↩ Back to content at footnote 1
- 2. Regulation 33(1), Recall of MPs Act 2015 (Recall Petition) Regulations 2016 ↩ Back to content at footnote 2
- 3. Regulation 33(8), Recall of MPs Act 2015 (Recall Petition) Regulations 2016 ↩ Back to content at footnote 3
- 4. Regulation 34, Recall of MPs Act 2015 (Recall Petition) Regulations 2016 ↩ Back to content at footnote 4
- 5. Regulation 33(5), Recall of MPs Act 2015 (Recall Petition) Regulations 2016 ↩ Back to content at footnote 5
- 6. Regulation 33(6) and (7), Recall of MPs Act 2015 (Recall Petition) Regulations 2016 ↩ Back to content at footnote 6