Votes marked by presiding officer
39.—(1) The presiding officer, on the application of a voter—
(a)who is incapacitated by blindness or other disability from voting in the manner directed by these Rules, or
(b)who declares orally that he is unable to read,
must, in the presence of the polling agents, cause the voter’s vote to be marked on a ballot paper in the manner directed by the voter, and the ballot paper to be placed in the ballot box.
(2) The name and number on the register of electors of every voter whose vote is marked in pursuance of this rule, and the reason why it is so marked, must be entered on a list (in these Rules called “the list of votes marked by the presiding officer”).
In the case of a person voting as proxy for an elector, the number to be entered together with the voter’s name must be the elector’s number.
(3) In the case of a person in respect of whom a notice has been issued under section 13B(3B) or (3D) of the 1983 Act(1), paragraph (2) applies as if for “on the register of electors of every voter” there were substituted “relating to every voter in respect of whom a notice has been issued under section 13B(3B) or (3D) of the 1983 Act”.
(4) The same list may be used for each relevant election or referendum, and where it is so used, an entry in that list must be taken to mean that the ballot papers were so marked in respect of each election or referendum, unless the list identifies the election or referendum at which the ballot paper was so marked.
Section 13B of the 1983 Act was inserted by paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 to the Representation of the People Act 2000 (c.2) and amended by section 11(3) of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 (c.22). Subsections (3B) and (3D) of section 13B were inserted by section 11(4) of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 (c.22).