Guidance for Returning Officers administering a Senedd election

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Checking the personal identifiers

You must check the identifiers on all returned postal voting statements.

You must be satisfied that the postal voting statement is duly completed. You must compare the date of birth and the signature on the postal voting statement against the date of birth and signature contained in the personal identifiers record relating the person the postal ballot paper was addressed.1

In the case of a constituency that covers more than one local authority, you will need to consider how you will obtain the data from any other local authority as well as considering the proportion of the constituency that is contained in the local authority area(s).

You should liaise closely at an early stage in the election planning process with any other EROs and election staff at any other local authority to identify any possible issues and how they will be addressed.

If you decide to open postal votes in more than one location in the constituency, you will need to appoint deputies from other local authorities as appropriate with specific powers to be able to be able to adjudicate postal vote identifiers.

If you have delegated authority to another person to make decisions on postal voting statements at the verification of postal vote identifiers, you should provide them with a copy of the Commission and Forensic Science Service guidance on signature checking, and instruct them to follow it.

You can find the Forensic Science Service guidance on signature checking in the absent voting section of our resources page. 

Your decision on determining on a postal voting statement does not have to be based only on the information on the postal voting statement and personal identifiers record. 

When making your decision, you may refer to other sources, for example, the signature provided on a registration form, or consider any additional information you have. Another example may be that an elector has contacted you to say that they have broken their arm since supplying their identifiers to the ERO and is unable to replicate their normal signature. 

You may decide to accept their postal voting statement as valid if you are satisfied that this is the case, even if it has a signature that looks different to the one on the personal identifiers record. 

Every decision on a postal voting statement should be taken on an individual basis.

Complete absence of a signature (where the elector has not been granted a waiver) or a date of birth must always lead to a rejection.2

In determining the validity of the postal voting statement, neither the signature nor the date of birth is more important than the other – both must be provided (unless the signature has not been provided and the elector has been granted a waiver), and both must match.3

Candidates, election agents and postal voting agents may object to the rejection of a postal voting statement. If they object to a rejection, the postal voting statement must be marked rejection objected to/gwrthwynebwyd y gwrthodiad before being attached to the ballot paper envelope and placed in the receptacle for rejected votes.4

Accredited observers and representatives of the Commission have no right to object to the rejection of a postal voting statement.

Last updated: 18 November 2025