Running electoral registration - Wales

Legislation outline

This part of the guidance describes the transitional actions you are required to take to implement the changes introduced by The Representation of the People (Absent Voting and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026.

The transitional actions include the need to correct, remove or align existing absent voting arrangements as necessary to allow for convergence of these records. This convergence will then enable the use of the UK digital service for absent voting applications in Wales from the relevant day.

The relevant day is defined in legislation as 3 November 2026.1

This guidance will help you to understand:

• the discrepancies in existing absent voting arrangements that must be removed
• the appropriate action to take to enable records to be corrected, removed, or aligned by the relevant day
• the appropriate action to take as soon as practicable after the relevant day to update records and inform voters

This process will involve software changes to the EMS to enable absent voting records to be amended, removed or aligned where electors hold both UK Parliament and Police and Crime Commissioner elections and Senedd and Local government election absent voting arrangements.

Planning for the required actions

You will need to plan how and when you will undertake the actions required to enable convergence of absent voting records by the relevant day.

When making your plans you should consider:

• the volume of affected absent voters
• how the convergence process will interact with your canvass activities
• how the convergence process will interact with the implementation of Automatic Voter Registration
• the potential for any by-elections during this period

Depending on the volume of discrepancies in your absent voting records, we recommend your plans allow for a minimum of 6 weeks to communicate with affected electors and process any resulting changes in the lead up to the relevant day. This should be enough time to deal with resulting issues such as where an elector identifies finds absent voting arrangement is incorrect for any particular poll, and they wish to reapply for that arrangement.

To help you plan for this work we have provided a summary of the actions to be taken before and after the relevant day.

Pre-relevant day actions

A discrepancy notice must be sent to each elector who has UK Parliament and Police and Crime Commissioner election and Senedd and Local government election absent voting arrangements and those records contain any of the following discrepancies:

• postal vote delivery to different addresses2
• a signature waiver for one but not the other3
• differing proxy name and/or address details4
• a postal vote arrangement for some polls and a proxy vote arrangement for others5

The discrepancy notice must inform the elector of the discrepancy, explain that, unless the elector takes action, their entitlement to vote by post or proxy at Senedd and local government elections will cease to have effect on the relevant day, and invite them to make a fresh application in time for the necessary change(s) to be made to the record before the relevant day.6

You will also need to process any applications made in response to these notices.

Post-relevant day actions

Some absent voting records will be automatically updated following the relevant day, when the:

• signature held on the record differ for the UK Parliament and Police and Crime Commissioner elections or the Senedd and Local government elections7
• signature refresh dates are different for proxy appointments8
• maximum period for a Senedd and Local government postal vote or proxy postal vote arrangement is amended9

As these are automated processes required to enable the convergence of records you do not need to give any notice to the elector that these changes are taking effect.

You are also required to update absent voting records where a proxy postal vote arrangement is in place for UK Parliament and Police and Crime Commissioner elections and Senedd and Local government elections, by removing the Senedd and Local government elections postal proxy arrangement. In this scenario you must notify the elector and proxy of this change, as soon as practicable after the relevant day.10