Parliament (Elections and Meeting) Act 1943

Members of the Forces, seamen and war workers abroad

8 Service register

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, a person, being on the qualifying date a British subject of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity, shall be entitled to be registered in the service register for an election in any constituency, if on that date that person—

(a) is a member of the forces or a seaman; and

(b) is residing at a place in the constituency, or would be so residing but for his service as a member of the forces or a seaman.

(2) No person shall be entitled to be registered in the service register for an election in any constituency unless there has been transmitted to the registration officer for that constituency in any manner authorised by national registration regulations, and received by that officer on or before the qualifying date, a declaration in the prescribed form (hereafter in this Part of this Act referred to as a " service declaration ") which purports to be signed by that person and to be attested by such other person as may be prescribed and states—

(a) the date of the declaration, and that on that date the declarant was a British subject; and

(b) whether the declarant had, on the date of the declaration, attained the age of twenty-one years, and, if he had not, the date of his birth; and

(c) that on the date of the declaration the declarant was, or but for his service as a member of the forces or a seaman would have been, residing at a place in the constituency of which the postal address is specified in the declaration; and

(d) the declarant's service number (if any) and such other particulars of identity (if any) as may be prescribed.

(3) A person who has made a service declaration may at any time cancel it in the prescribed form and (if he so desires) make a further service declaration to some other place of residence.

(4) A service declaration which declares to more than one place of residence shall be void, and not more than one service declaration made by the same person shall have effect at the same time; and accordingly, where a person makes two or more service declarations without expressly cancelling the earlier declaration or declarations, the following provisions shall apply:—

(a) two or more declarations bearing the same date shall be void;

(b) subject to paragraph (a) of this subsection, a declaration bearing a later date shall, without any express cancellation, cancel a declaration bearing an earlier date.

(5) Where, on the qualifying date for an election in any constituency,—

(a) a service declaration declaring to a place of residence, in the constituency has been transmitted to the registration officer in manner authorised by national registration regulations and received by him; and

(b) the registration officer has not been notified in manner so authorised that the declaration has been cancelled or that the declarant has ceased to be a member of the forces, or a seaman;

then for the purpose of determining the declarant's right to be registered in the service register for the election—

(i) that place shall be deemed to be the place at which he is, or but for his service as a member of the forces or a seaman would be, residing on the qualifying date; and

(ii) he shall be treated until the contrary is proved as being on that date a member of the forces or a seaman, according to the form of the declaration, and a British subject of the age appearing from the declaration and not subject to any legal incapacity.

(6) National registration regulations may provide for the following matters, that is to say:—

(a) the manner in which any service declaration and any cancellation of any such declaration is to be transmitted or notified to the registration officer concerned;

(b) the manner in which the registration officer concerned is to be notified that a person who has made a service declaration has died or otherwise ceased to be a member of the forces or a seaman;

(c) the compilation and maintenance of a central index (whether as an adjunct to the National Register or otherwise) of all persons who have made service declarations, containing such particulars as to those persons and the service declarations made by them as appear to be necessary for the purposes of this Part of this Act;

and the notification to a registration officer in accordance with the said regulations that a service declaration has been cancelled or that a person has died or otherwise ceased to be a member of the forces or a seaman shall, for the purposes of this section, be conclusive evidence of the fact so notified.

(7) A person -who is registered in the service register for any election shall be deemed for the purposes of this Part of this Act and the principal Act to be registered in respect of a residence qualification.

9 Mode of voting of service voters

(1) A person who has made a service declaration (hereafter referred to as a service voter ") may appoint a proxy to vote for him at any election for which he may be registered in the service register by virtue of that declaration, and having appointed a proxy may, subject to the following provisions of this section, vote by that proxy at any such

The provisions of the Second Schedule to this Act shall have effect in relation to the appointment and voting of proxies under this section.

(2) A service voter, whether he has appointed a proxy under this section or not, may vote in person at an election for which he is registered in the service register, but, where he is entitled to vote by proxy at the election, only if he applies for a ballot paper before a ballot paper has been issued to the proxy, and in that event the appointment of the proxy shall be void as respects that election.

Nothing in the second paragraph of section twenty-four of the Ballot Act, 1872, shall be taken to penalise a service voter who, after a proxy appointed by him has voted at an election, applies for a ballot paper for the purpose of voting in person.

(3) A member of the forces, whether he has appointed a proxy under this section or not, may elect, by notice in the prescribed form given to the registration officer within the prescribed time after the initiation of an election for which he is qualified to be registered in the service register, to vote by post at that election; and thereupon, as respects that election, any appointment of a proxy made by him shall be void and he shall be entitled, if registered in the service register for the election as a member of the forces, to vote by post in the same way as an absent voter and shall not be entitled to vote otherwise than by post:

Provided that any such notice shall be void unless it gives an address in the United Kingdom as the address to which a ballot paper is to be sent in pursuance of the notice.

10 Arrangements for exercise of rights by service voters

Arrangements shall be made—

(a) as respects members of the forces, by the Admiralty, Army Council or Air Council, as the case may be;

(b) as respects seamen, by the Minister of War Transport;

for securing that (so far as circumstances permit) every person appearing to be qualified to make a service declaration shall—

(i) have an effective opportunity of exercising from time to time as occasion may require the rights conferred on him by this Part of this Act in relation to the making and cancellation of service declarations, and of appointments of a proxy, and in relation to voting by post; and

(ii) receive such instructions as to the effect of this Part of this Act and any regulations made under or by virtue of this Part of this Act, and such other assistance, as may be reasonably sufficient in connection with the exercise of those rights.

11 War workers abroad

(1) Electoral registration regulations shall provide for conferring, on persons for the time being registered in the National Register as persons engaged in war work abroad, rights similar (as nearly as may be) to those conferred by this Part of this Act on seamen, and for making such modifications of this Part of this Act in its application to persons so registered as may appear to the Secretary of State to be necessary or expedient for that purpose.

(2) National registration regulations shall provide for the registration in the National Register as a person engaged in war work abroad of any person who—

(a) is certified on behalf of a government department to be engaged in work of national importance outside the United Kingdom (whether ashore or afloat) in connection with any war in which His Majesty may be engaged; and

(b) makes such a declaration as may be prescribed by the regulations;

and for the circumstances in which a person registered as so engaged is to cease to be so registered.