Guidance for Returning Officers administering a Senedd election

Your work to deliver well-run polls will come under considerable scrutiny – from voters, candidates and political parties, and the media, including through social media.

This section seeks to highlight some of the particular context relevant to these Senedd elections which you should ensure underpin all aspects of your planning.

Nature of the Senedd Elections

The evolving political landscape could mean that even in places where there have traditionally been large majorities this may no longer be the case. The focus and circumstances could be different from anything experienced in your area before.

There may be a significant number of new or less experienced political parties, candidates and agents who are unfamiliar with the practices and processes of an election and who will need your support to be able to participate effectively.

Given the possibility of close and hard-fought contests, you should be prepared for the integrity of the elections to be scrutinised. Allegations and cases of electoral fraud will not only have a negative impact on the confidence of electors and campaigners, but they may also have a significant impact on your capacity to manage the election processes effectively. It is therefore crucial that you put in place detailed and robust plans for monitoring and maintaining the integrity of the elections in your area. You should work closely with the local police, ensuring you have in place good lines of communication for referring any allegations. For more information see our guidance on maintaining the integrity and security of the election.

Scale and turnout

Many aspects of planning for the elections will need to reflect assumptions as to the likely turnout. Establishing such assumptions at an early stage in planning is of key importance as the scope for adjusting plans is limited at a later stage in the process.

Levels of engagement are often difficult to predict in advance of the election period. You should plan for the possibility of a high turnout and, as a minimum, you should assume that the turnout will not be less than the turnout at the last equivalent polls.

As the poll becomes closer, the context will continue to evolve as the campaigns pick up pace. You will need to be prepared to react to events which could have an impact on the effective delivery of the polls, and this will include having robust contingency plans in place that you can turn to where required. If, for example, there are televised Leaders’ debates, these could conceivably result in a late surge of registration and absent voting applications, as well as having an impact on turnout and could alter the traditional pattern of when completed postal votes are returned.

It is vital that appropriate provision of polling stations is made, with the numbers of staff within them sufficient to deal with the number of electors allocated to them. Although the legislation allows any voters in a queue at their polling station at 10pm to vote,1 the need to ensure that voters do not face undue delays in voting and can receive a high-quality service remains.

There is likely to be a media focus on the verification, count and declaration of results. It will be important to manage expectations, not only of the media but of all with an interest in the results, by consulting on your proposed approach and subsequently communicating clearly what you expect to deliver and by when.