Guidance for Returning Officers administering a Scottish Parliament election

You must have received a postal ballot pack by the close of poll via the post or having been handed in at a polling station or council building in the constituency, for it to be treated as duly returned.1   

You should confirm the arrangements with Royal Mail for the return of postal votes and any final sweeps to be carried out on polling day.

If a person is delivering their postal vote to a polling station and they are in a queue at the polling station at 10pm they must still be permitted to return their postal ballot pack.2

Postal ballot packs can only be returned:

• to you, as CRO, by hand or by post, or
• by hand to any polling station in the constituency

Secure storage of returned postal ballots

Returned postal ballots should be stored securely at all times. This includes when they are transported to any opening sessions and to the verification and count venue. For more information see our guidance on ensuring the security of ballot papers. 

All postal votes received, must be stored in appropriate receptacles. You must take proper precautions for the safe custody of these receptacles.3

The methods of storage and transportation should be such that you can be satisfied that the returned postal ballots are kept securely and cannot be interfered with.

Postal ballot boxes and packets for returned postal votes

You must have two types of ballot box for securely storing returned postal votes:4  

• the postal voters’ ballot box 
• the postal ballot box

At each opening session, you must also provide receptacles for the following:5

• rejected votes 
• postal voting statements 
• ballot paper envelopes
• rejected ballot paper envelopes

You are also required to have a copy of the postal voters’ list and the postal proxy voters’ list so that entries can be marked as postal voting statements are returned.6

Postal voters’ ballot box

The postal voters’ ballot box is used to store any returned postal votes while they await opening. 

Any postal ballot papers, postal voting statements or ballot paper envelopes that are not received as a complete pack must also be placed in the postal voters’ ballot box.7

All postal voters’ ballot boxes must be marked with the words postal voters’ ballot box and the name of the relevant electoral area (i.e. Scottish Parliament constituency and region).8  

You must take proper precautions to ensure the safe custody of the postal voters’ ballot box.9 You should seal the postal voters’ ballot box and store it in a secure place until the next scheduled opening of postal votes.10 These precautions will ensure the security of the contents of the postal voters’ ballot box is maintained at all times. 

Postal ballot boxes

Postal ballot boxes are used to store the postal ballot papers which have been through the opening process and are to go forward to the count. 

All postal ballot boxes must be marked with the words postal ballot box and the name of the relevant electoral area (i.e. constituency and region).

All postal ballot boxes must be stored securely until the count.11 Any agents present at a postal vote opening are entitled to add their seal to postal ballot boxes if they wish.

Postal votes handed into the polling station

For postal votes handed in to polling stations on polling day, you should emphasise to polling station staff, including polling station inspectors, the importance of maintaining the security of the returned postal votes at all times. 

You should put arrangements in place to collect postal votes from polling stations at various points throughout polling day. This will help to avoid receiving large quantities of those postal votes at the count and should help to reduce the risk of delays to the start time of the count. 

You should provide polling stations with sufficient packets for received postal votes. These packets should be clearly labelled as containing postal votes and include the name of the polling station and polling station identifier.

For more information on dealing with postal votes returned to polling stations see our guidance in the polling station handbook. 

You can find the polling station handbook in the absent voting and polling station voting sections of our resource page.