Guidance for Returning Officers administering a Scottish Parliament election

Postal ballot paper

The form of the ballot papers is prescribed in legislation and you must follow this precisely.1

The Convenor of the EMB may direct or recommend what the colour of the constituency ballot paper and the regional ballot paper should be.2

Postal voting statement

The postal voting statement (PVS) is set out in the legislation and must be produced in the prescribed form.3 The PVS must include:4

• the voter’s name (unless they are an anonymous elector)
• the numbers of the ballot papers being issued with the statement
• the prescribed instructions to the voter on how to vote by post

The PVS also contains space for a barcode.

You must produce different forms of the PVS for anonymous electors and for those who have been granted a waiver.5 The PVS for anonymous electors must not show the name of the elector.6 Where an elector has been granted a waiver by the ERO, you must omit the signature box and any references to signing the form in the instructions to voters.7

You should also design and test the postal vote statements to ensure that the signature and date of birth fields are in the correct place and format to be able to be processed on their return by your personal identifier verification system.

Additional instructions to voters

In addition to the prescribed content of the postal ballot pack as above, you should consider providing additional, more specific instructions - for example, graphical instructions for voters to help them complete the statement and ballot papers and return their postal vote stationery in the correct envelopes.

You should include the information that you must provide to postal voters on how to obtain instructions in alternative formats, e.g. alternative languages, braille, and audio.

As part of these instructions, you should include information explaining the personal nature of the vote, setting out that it is secret and that anyone interfering with the voter marking their vote would be committing an offence. You should also include information on how to report any concerns or suspected instances of electoral fraud.