Guidance for Returning Officers administering a Senedd election

You must ensure that candidates are able to submit nominations electronically.1 You will need to set out in both the electronic delivery statement and any briefings for candidates and agents the:

• methods available to submit electronically such as submission to an email address or any other online submission
• the process and any instructions for submitting nominations by email or online
• the details of who can be contacted should any support be needed

Submission of nominations by email

The use of email is likely to be accessible to most candidates and agents.

There are some practical elements to think about when planning how the management of submission of nominations via email would work in practice:

• whether there is a need to set up specific email accounts for both:
  • the formal submission of completed nomination papers
  • the management of any nomination specific queries during the nomination period
• who would have access to each email account

You will need to put processes in place to monitor any email addresses that could be associated with the RO or electoral services to which nomination papers could be sent in error. This will ensure that any papers received can be identified quickly and action taken to try to contact the candidate.

Spam or junk mail folders should be checked regularly in case any emails have arrived there in error.

You should also consider how to make other teams across the council aware that they should contact you as soon as possible if they receive any emails regarding the nominations process.

IT support required to manage the submission of nominations by email

You should liaise with IT services to ensure that you have the support and any additional resource you need to manage the submission of nominations by email.

This support could include:

• the setting up of separate email accounts for both formal submissions and informal checks
• the management of permissions to these accounts to ensure they are secure
• ensuring that there is sufficient storage capacity on email inboxes
• having contingency plans in place including disaster recovery processes which cover what would happen should there be an IT outage or similar during the nomination period and particularly close to the deadline for receipt of nominations

Additionally, you will need to discuss any data protection considerations with your Data Protection Officer, to ensure that you have a clear process in place for the processing of data received by email, and its secure storage in line with your statutory duties and data retention policies.

Submission of nominations via online system

You may also allow nominations to be submitted electronically via a dedicated online system.

Using an online system to manage the submission of nominations may result in a reduction in the amount of emails that need to be processed due to the ability to input nomination information directly onto an online system instead.

However, there are a number of things to consider in both making your decision as to whether to offer an online system, and how it would be managed in practice.

IT support required to set up an online nominations system

Using the expertise of your IT team, you could consider setting up a bespoke system in-house. The system will need to be user-friendly and should include clear instructions on how to use it.

Alternatively, you could consider using an external provider to deliver the system. There may be opportunities to work with other ROs in the procurement and establishment of an online system for the submission of nominations.

Regardless of whether any online nominations system is produced in-house or externally, you will need to consider:

• the resource and/or financial implications involved
• the timeframe available for the establishment of a new system

It is important that you are able to ensure that any online system is fully tested and operational in good time before the beginning of the nominations period.

Maintaining a clear audit-trail of nominations formally delivered electronically

You should have a process in place for recording any communications from candidates and agents by phone or in person that relate to a nomination that is subsequently submitted by email or through any online system.

You should ensure that whatever you put in place to enable the electronic submission of nominations it is able to provide a clear audit trail of when a nomination has been formally delivered.

If you use a dedicated email address for the formal delivery stage of the nomination process, you could utilise auto-reply functionality to confirm receipt of the email but clarify that the nomination is not yet determined. The auto reply could also confirm the next steps in the process to candidates and agents.

If you are using an online system you will need to be able to differentiate between nominations that are in progress or going through informal checks, and those which have been formally submitted.

You will need to consider whether any technical support is needed to ensure that a clear-audit trail of is set up for the processes is in place. There must be a process in place for recording the exact time that nominations are received by email or any other online system.2

You will also need to decide on a process for recording your decisions regarding the validity of nominations submitted electronically and whether this is done online or using print-outs of the papers or similar.

You will need to have a plan in place for the secure storage of nomination papers submitted electronically and make them available for inspection if requested.