The Representation of the People (England and Wales) (Description of Electoral Registers and Amendment) Regulations 2013

Notification of a rejected postal vote

28.  After regulation 61B insert—

“Notification of a rejected postal voting statement

61C.— (1) Where an absent voter (whether an elector or a proxy), appears on the list created under regulation 87(4) then—

(a) the registration officer responsible for the personal identifiers record that contains information in respect of the absent voter must notify them (and the elector if the absent voter is a proxy) that the ballot paper concerned was rejected because the returning officer was not satisfied that the postal voting statement was duly completed;

(b) the registration officer must send the notification within the period of three months beginning with the date of the poll at which the ballot paper was rejected; and

(c) the notification must include information as to which of the specified reasons referred to in regulation 87(5) applied to the absent voter’s postal voting statement.

(2) The registration officer is not obliged to send a notification—

(a) to any person who is no longer shown as voting by post in the relevant record at the time the registration officer proposes to send out the notification, or

(b) where the returning officer suspects that an offence may have been committed in relation to the postal ballot paper, postal voting statement or the absent voter’s registration as an elector.

(3) A notification issued under paragraph (1) may also include any other information that the registration officer considers appropriate, but a notification must not include information held on the personal identifiers record.”.