You must publish notices online and in any other ways you consider appropriate.1
You must take reasonable steps to ensure that notices are brought to the public’s attention.2
For example, you should post notices in a conspicuous place within the constituency, such as local authority offices, noticeboards, libraries, other public buildings.
You should apply robust proof-checking processes to help:
detect any errors
avoid any potential data breaches before they occur
For more information on proof checking processes see our guidance on quality assurance.
Data protection considerations for election notices
As the data controller you will need to consider whether it is appropriate or necessary for the notices to remain published, on your website or elsewhere, beyond the expiry of the petition period for that election.
For example, where the notices serve specific purposes, i.e. advising who will be a candidate at the election, once the election is over, and the opportunity to question that election has passed, they serve no further purpose.
Once the petition deadline for the election has passed you should either remove the notices, or remove the personal data contained in the notices.
Data protection legislation does permit personal data to be stored for longer periods, subject to the implementation of appropriate safeguards if the data will be processed:
solely for archiving purposes in the public interest, or
for scientific, historical, or statistical purposes
For notices of election results, for example, you should retain these on your website as they are for public interest and historical and statistical purposes.