Guidance for Returning Officers administering a Scottish Parliament election

The process for opening postal ballot packs is set out in legislation:

Stage 1: Opening of the postal voters' ballot box1

• count and record the number of returned postal ballot packs (i.e. the number of covering envelopes (B) in the postal voters’ ballot box)
• open covering envelope B and remove the postal voting statement and ballot paper envelope
• check the number on the postal voting statement matches the number on the ballot paper envelope (envelope ‘A’)
• place a mark in the postal voters list or postal proxy voters list as appropriate to show that a postal voting statement has been returned

If the covering envelope does not contain a postal voting statement:

• mark the covering envelope with the words provisionally rejected and attach its contents and place in the receptacle for rejected votes

Stage 2: Checking the personal identifiers2

• check that the elector has signed the statement and given a date of birth
• check the signature and date of birth on the postal voting statement matches those on the personal identifiers record
  • If you are satisfied that the postal voting statement is duly completed:
    • check the number on the postal voting statement matches the number on the ballot paper envelope (envelope A)
    • place the statement in the receptacle for postal voting statements 
    • place the ballot paper envelope in the receptacle for ballot paper envelopes
  • If you are not satisfied that the postal voting statement has been duly completed:
    • reject the postal voting statement. You must mark the statement rejected, attach to it the ballot paper envelope (if there is no such envelope you must attach it to the ballot papers) and place it in the receptacle for rejected votes. Before placing it in the receptacle, you must show it to the agents and, if any of them object to your decision, add the words rejection objected to. You should also record the reason for the rejection.

Stage 3: Opening of postal ballot paper envelopes3

• open the ballot paper envelope (envelope A) and remove the ballot papers, ensuring the ballot papers are kept face down at all times
• check the numbers on the ballot paper envelope (envelope A) matches the numbers on the back of the ballot papers
• place the ballot papers in postal ballot box(es)

If the ballot paper number on the ballot paper envelope does not match number on back of the ballot paper, add the words provisionally rejected, attach to the ballot paper envelope and place in the receptacle for rejected votes.

If the ballot paper envelope does not contain ballot paper(s), write on the ballot paper envelope that ballot paper(s) are missing, add the words provisionally rejected and place in receptacle for rejected ballot paper envelopes.

Stage 4: Sealing the postal ballot boxes4

• count and record the number of postal ballot papers to be sealed in each postal ballot box
• seal and securely store the postal ballot box(es)

A summary of this process is available in the following postal vote opening flowchart.

You can find the postal voting opening flowchart in the absent voting section of our resource page.

You should batch ballot papers in such a way as to ensure that you will be able to retrieve and cancel any particular ballot paper (for example, because you have had to re-issue following a procedural error). 

For this reason, and because of the need to verify the contents of all postal ballot boxes at the verification, you should consider how many ballot papers you want to store in each box.

Matching up postal voting statements with postal ballot papers

You must keep two lists of provisionally rejected postal ballot papers:5

• one to record the ballot paper number of any postal ballot paper(s) that have been returned without a postal voting statement
• one to record the ballot paper number(s) on any postal voting statement that was not returned with the ballot paper(s)

A spreadsheet is available that you can use for this purpose.

You can find the postal vote matching spreadsheet in the absent voting section of our resource page.

You should check these lists regularly to ensure that any mismatched documents can be matched up, enabling those postal ballots to be re-introduced into the process.