Guidance for Returning Officers administering Local Government Elections in England

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Receipt of ballot boxes and other materials

The correct and orderly receipt of ballot boxes and materials from polling stations is a key component of an accurate verification process. You need to decide the most effective arrangements for receiving ballot boxes and other materials. 

Making assumptions on the timings for the delivery of ballot boxes will help you to ensure that: 

  • staff receiving ballot boxes from polling stations will be able to alert you if any box(es) are overdue as this may indicate a problem either for an individual Presiding Officer or a wider problem affecting a number of Presiding Officers 
  • your estimated timings for the completion of the verification stage are informed by your estimated timing of when the last ballot boxes for the poll are likely to arrive

You should be able to estimate when each ballot box is expected to arrive at the verification venue, while recognising the potential for delays as a result of possible, queues at the polling station at the close of poll or other factors such as adverse weather etc. Your analysis of previous polls will provide valuable information to assist and there are also many websites and apps that will calculate the time it takes to travel between a polling station and the verification venue. 

You can also establish the average time it takes for a Presiding Officer to complete the relevant forms and package up materials following the close of poll by considering experience at previous polls or by carrying out an exercise to time the process in practice. 

You will need to ensure that Presiding Officers can get ballot boxes securely and efficiently to the verification venue so that the verification and counting processes can be commenced as quickly as possible. You will need to consider the geography and transport links of the electoral area and the particular characteristics of the chosen venue (for example, car parking, access roads, etc.).

Using collection points

One option may be to receive polling station materials from Presiding Officers at one or more locations (‘collection points’) and then transport the materials in bulk to the verification venue. You will need to decide if the use of collection points may speed up overall receipt of the polling station materials at the verification venue.

If you adopt this approach, you will need to put in place robust arrangements to ensure the correct and orderly receipt of ballot boxes and materials from polling stations at the collection points. If possible, staff receiving the ballot boxes should also undertake a cursory check of the ballot paper accounts, including the basic arithmetic, before the Presiding Officers are allowed to depart. The ballot boxes and other materials from polling stations would then need to be securely transported to the verification venue. See ensuring the security of ballot papers and other materials for further guidance on this. 

If you decide to use collection points, a further check that everything delivered to the collection points by Presiding Officers has also been received at the verification and count venue would be advisable. You will need to include the time it would take to complete these checks when calculating the potential efficiencies of using collection points and weigh up these factors in reaching any decision.

Number of ballot boxes

You will need to plan for how many ballot boxes you will receive at the verification and count. This will be determined by your calculation of how many ballot papers a ballot box can hold depending on the size of the ballot paper or ballot papers and therefore how many ballot boxes will be supplied to polling stations. For more information see our section on equipment and materials to be provided for the polling station.

If permitted by the relevant election rules, you will need to decide whether to use a single ballot box at the polling station or separate ballot boxes for each of the polls. The use of a single box means that the various ballot papers for the different elections will need to be separated at the verification. In the case of separate boxes the ballot papers will arrive at the verification already separated, save for any papers mistakenly posted in the ‘wrong’ box at polling stations. There is nothing to suggest that either approach results in a significantly quicker verification, but you may wish to undertake a practical exercise to test this locally in order to provide an evidence base for any decision.

There are, however, some other advantages to using a single box, for example:

  • it may be more straightforward for the voter in the polling station
  • it requires less management by staff in the polling station
  • it can mean fewer ballot boxes to be transported to the verification venue
     
Last updated: 27 January 2023