Guidance for Returning Officers administering a Senedd election

The information in this section explains how to deal with lost postal ballot papers and you must have regard to this.1

Where a voter claims either to have lost or not to have received their postal ballot paper, postal voting statement or envelopes A and/or B, it is possible for a replacement postal ballot pack to be issued from 4 working days before polling day up to up until 5pm on polling day.2

Up to 5pm on the day before polling day, if the request for a replacement postal pack is made in person, the replacement postal vote can be issued and handed to the elector.3

If a request for a replacement postal ballot pack is received after 5pm on the day before polling day up to 5pm on polling day, the voter must apply in person4 and the issue of a replacement pack must only be made by hand.5 You may refuse to issue a replacement pack to an elector if you have reason to doubt that that they have either lost or did not receive their original postal ballot pack.6

You must re-issue a postal ballot pack if you are satisfied as to the postal voter’s identity and have no reason to doubt that they have lost or did not receive their original postal ballot pack.7

To establish the postal voter’s identity, a proportionate approach should be adopted that seeks to use some proof of identity that can be easily verified by staff, but that is not too onerous for the elector. Legislation does not prescribe which forms of ID are required but the RO must be satisfied of the elector’s identity.8 For more information see our guidance on proof of identity recommendations for re-issuing postal votes.

You should consider whether or not particular arrangements need to be put in place for those electors who are unable to attend the office in person, for example due to disability or being overseas. For example, you could consider accepting scanned copies of proof of identity listed in the examples in the next section via email, or utilising video-calling technology.

If not all parts of the postal ballot pack have been lost or not received, the voter must return those documents they do have.9 You are then required to immediately cancel those documents.10

Voters may telephone your office to enquire about a replacement postal ballot pack if their postal vote has failed to arrive. If this is the case, your staff should advise about the procedure for re-issuing and explain what proof of identity they will be asked to produce before a replacement postal ballot pack will be issued.

Record keeping for lost/not received postal ballot papers

Where you re-issue a postal vote due to it being lost or not received, you must add the elector's name and elector number to the list of lost postal ballot papers.11 The name must not, however, be added if the elector is registered anonymously.12 The ballot paper number of the replacement ballot paper(s) must also be added to the list.13 In the case of a postal proxy, the name and address of the proxy must be added to the list alongside the other details.

For the purposes of collating data for the statement of postal ballot papers (Form 6), you must also add the details of any lost ballot papers which have been cancelled to the list of all cancelled postal ballot papers.14 For more information see our guidance on record keeping for cancelled ballot papers.

The table summarises the procedure for re-issuing lost or not received postal votes: