Guidance for Returning Officers administering Local Government Elections in England

Issuing postal votes to overseas addresses

Postal ballot packs that are to be sent overseas should be prioritised in order to allow as much time as possible for the ballot pack to reach the elector and to be completed and returned. As part of your preparations for the issue of postal votes, you should agree with your printers a process that will enable you to do this.

Postal votes going overseas should be sent via air mail (or by the British Forces Post Office for relevant service voters) in order to allow the maximum possible time for postal votes to be received, completed and returned. Postal ballot packs to be sent overseas should be sorted and identified to the mail service provider so that they can be sent by the appropriate mail service.

You should liaise with Royal Mail about the cost of postage for sending items overseas in order to ensure that the correct postage is included on all outgoing postal ballot packs. 

You must include an envelope to facilitate the return of the postal ballot pack,1 but for items sent overseas, the envelope should not include UK return postage as this will not be sufficient for the return of the postal ballot pack to the UK and could result in a delay to the return of the completed postal ballot pack. Instead, you should put in place arrangements with Royal Mail for an international business response licence to be used on all return envelopes included in postal ballot packs which are sent to overseas addresses in order to facilitate the timely return of completed postal ballot packs from outside the UK.

Where it may not be realistic for a postal ballot pack to be dispatched, completed and returned before the close of poll, the ERO should make the elector aware of this fact and advise the elector to appoint a proxy as an alternative.

It is, of course, the choice of the elector as to which method of voting they prefer, but it is important that electors are fully advised of the circumstances surrounding their choice so that they can make an informed decision.

Last updated: 19 December 2023