Guidance for Returning Officers administering Local Government Elections in England

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Poll Card delivery

You must send out poll cards as soon as practicable after the publication of the notice of election.1 Where poll cards are combined, they can only be issued once the notice of election for all elections has been published.

A poll card must be sent to the elector’s qualifying address or, in the case of a proxy, to the proxy’s address as shown in the list of proxies.2   

An anonymous elector’s poll card must be sent in a covering envelope to the elector’s qualifying address.3  

The requirement to send poll cards does not apply to parish council elections. The parish council can, however, request that you issue poll cards.4 Any such request must be made not later than 4pm on the nineteenth working day before the poll.5  You should liaise with the clerk at an early stage to obtain early confirmation of the parish council’s decision on the issue of poll cards to allow you to finalise the design of any poll cards or combined poll cards you may be issuing and issue these soon after the publication of notice of election.

It is not unusual for a parish council election to be uncontested. While not printing poll cards where you might expect certain seats to be uncontested and candidates elected unopposed is a potential means of saving costs, poll cards tell people about the elections and may encourage their involvement and can often prompt them to update their registration details. If the parish council election is likely to be uncontested you could, for example, include a line on the poll card that alerts the elector to a parish election in their area should the election be contested.

It is important in all cases to get poll cards to electors as early as possible and it is therefore for you as Returning Officer to determine the optimal distribution date for poll cards in each electoral area. In any cases where this does not take place until after nominations have closed, you should consider how you will mitigate the risk of poll cards only being received by electors close to, or potentially after, the registration deadline.

In order to ensure that voters receive the information they need and within time for them to cast their vote you should ensure that voters can receive their poll cards as soon as possible, so that they have the maximum amount of time to change their registration details or apply for an absent vote. 

You will need to determine the optimal distribution date for poll cards and you should focus on when electors can expect to receive poll cards. 

Poll cards may be delivered by hand or by post, or by some other method determined by you as the most appropriate.6  

Delivery by hand 

If you deliver poll cards by hand you should plan for how this will work in practice. You should appoint sufficient staff to ensure that voters receive poll cards as soon as possible to maximise the time to change registration details or apply for an absent vote. You should clearly set out in your instructions to staff the last day by which you would expect all poll cards to have been delivered. 

You should ensure that staff are aware of data protection considerations, and should consider requiring staff to confirm in writing at the point of recruitment, that they will abide by your data protection policy.

You should monitor delivery, to ensure that poll cards have been delivered across the whole of the local authority area and to agreed timeframes. This may include requiring delivery staff to fill in log sheets and having supervisors carry out spot-checks.

Delivery by post

You may use Royal Mail or any other commercial delivery firm for the delivery of poll cards. If you are delivering poll cards by post, you should liaise with your postal services provider to agree timescales for delivery and obtain any proof of postage that the firm provides.

You should monitor the delivery of poll cards, to ensure that they have been delivered across the whole of the local authority area and to agreed timeframes. If possible, you should have arrangements in place to track deliveries to assist with responding to any enquiries from electors. 

Your contingency planning should address how you would issue any poll cards in the event that Royal Mail or the commercial delivery firm you have contracted are unable to deliver the poll cards, for example, due to industrial action.

 

Last updated: 26 March 2024