The Neighbourhood Planning (Referendums) Regulations 2012

PART 4E+WAction to be Taken Before the Poll

Notice of pollE+W

13.—(1) The counting officer must publish notice of the poll stating—

(a)the day and hours fixed for the poll; and

(b)the question to be asked in the referendum.

(2) The notice of the poll must be published no later than the sixth day before the date of the referendum.

(3) The relevant returning or counting officer must, not later than the time of the publication of the notice of the poll, also give public notice of—

(a)the situation of each polling station; and

(b)the description of persons entitled to vote there.

(4) The notice published under paragraph (3) must—

(a)state that the poll at the referendum is to be taken together with the poll at a relevant election;

(b)specify the parliamentary constituency, electoral area, F1... Assembly constituency, voting area or, as the case may be, the relevant local authority area for which the relevant election is held; and

(c)where any of the polls are to be taken together in part of the area only, specify that part.

Textual Amendments

Postal ballot papersE+W

14.—(1) The relevant returning or counting officer must, in accordance with regulations made under the 1983 Act M1, issue to those entitled to vote by post a ballot paper and a postal voting statement in the form set out in Form 6 or 7 in the Appendix (as the case may be), or a form to like effect, together with such envelopes for their return as may be prescribed by such regulations.

(2) The relevant returning or counting officer must also issue to those entitled to vote by post such information as the officer thinks appropriate about how to obtain—

(a)translations into languages other than English of any directions to or guidance for voters and proxies sent with the ballot paper;

(b)a translation into Braille of such directions or guidance;

(c)graphical representations of such directions or guidance;

(d)the directions or guidance in any other form (including any audible form).

(3) The postal voting statement must include provision for the form to be signed and for stating the date of birth of the voter or proxy.

(4) In the case of a ballot paper issued to a person at an address in the United Kingdom, the relevant returning or counting officer must ensure that the return of the ballot paper and postal voting statement is free of charge to the voter or proxy.

(5) In paragraphs (1), (2) and (4) for “relevant returning or counting officer” substitute “ counting officer ” where proceedings on the issue and receipt of ballot papers at the referendum are not taken together with such proceedings at one or more relevant elections.

Marginal Citations

Provision of polling stationsE+W

15.—(1) The relevant returning or counting officer must provide a sufficient number of polling stations and, subject to the following provisions of this rule, must allot polling stations to voters in such manner as the relevant returning or counting officer thinks most convenient.

(2) The polling stations are the polling places or polling stations (as the case may be) designated for the purposes of the relevant election for which the relevant returning or counting officer discharges functions which are not combined functions.

(3) In paragraph (2) “combined functions” means functions under regulation 5 of the Representation of the People (Combination of Polls) (England and Wales) Regulations 2004.

(4) One or more polling stations may be provided in the same room.

(5) The polling station allotted to voters from any parliamentary polling district wholly or partly within the referendum area must, in the absence of special circumstances, be in the parliamentary polling place for that district.

(6) The relevant returning or counting officer must provide each polling station with such number of compartments as may be necessary in which the voters and proxies can mark their votes screened from observation.

[F2(7) The counting officer must ensure that each polling station contains an area in which voters and proxies can produce proof of identity in private.]

Textual Amendments

Appointment of presiding officers and polling clerksE+W

16.—(1) The relevant returning or counting officer must appoint and pay a presiding officer to attend at each polling station and such clerks as may be necessary for the purposes of the referendum.

(2) The relevant returning or counting officer may, if that officer thinks fit, preside at a polling station and the provisions of these Rules relating to a presiding officer apply to a relevant returning or counting officer so presiding with the necessary modifications as to things to be done by the relevant returning or counting officer to the presiding officer or by the presiding officer to the relevant returning or counting officer.

(3) A presiding officer may do, by the clerks appointed to assist the officer, any act (including the asking of questions) which the officer is required or authorised by these Rules to do at a polling station [F3except—

(a)order the arrest, exclusion or removal of any person from the polling station,

(b)refuse to deliver a ballot paper under rule 25(3) or rule 27(1E) (including that rule as applied by rule 28, 28 or 30), or

(c)resolve doubts over identity as mentioned in rule 27(1F) (including that paragraph as applied by rule 28, 29 or 30).]

Textual Amendments

Issue of official poll cardsE+W

17.—(1) The counting officer must as soon as practicable after the publication of the notice of the referendum send to each voter and proxy an official poll card.

(2) The official poll card must be sent or delivered—

(a)in the case of a voter, to the voter's qualifying address; and

(b)in the case of a proxy, to the proxy's address as shown in the list of proxies.

(3) The official poll card must be in the form set out in Form 8, 9, 10 or 11 in the Appendix (as the case may be), or a form to like effect, and must set out—

(a)the name of the relevant council and of the neighbourhood area;

(b)the name of the voter, the voter's qualifying address and number on the register;

(c)the date and hours of the poll and the situation of the voter's polling station;

(d)such other information as the counting officer thinks appropriate,

and different information may be provided in pursuance of sub-paragraph (d) to different voters or to different descriptions of voter.

(4) In the case of a voter who has an anonymous entry in the register, instead of containing the matter mentioned in paragraph (3)(b), the poll card must contain such matter as is specified in the appropriate form in the Appendix.

(5) In this rule references to a voter—

(a)are to a person who is registered in the register of local government electors on the last day for the publication of notice of the referendum; and

(b)include a person then shown in the register as below voting age if (but only if) it appears from the register that the person will be of voting age on the day fixed for the poll.

(6) If the returning officer (or, as the case may be, the counting officer) for each relevant election and the counting officer for the referendum think fit, an official poll card issued under this rule may be combined with the official poll card issued at every relevant election.

Equipment of polling stationsE+W

18.—(1) The relevant returning or counting officer must provide each presiding officer with such number of ballot boxes and ballot papers as in the counting officer's opinion may be necessary.

(2) The same ballot box may be used for the poll at the referendum and the poll at every relevant election, if the relevant returning or counting officer thinks fit.

(3) Every ballot box must be so constructed that the ballot papers can be put in it, but cannot be withdrawn from it, without the box being unlocked or, where the box has no lock, the seal being broken.

(4) The relevant returning or counting officer must provide each polling station with—

(a)materials to enable voters and proxies to mark the ballot papers;

(b)copies of such part of the register of electors as contains the names of the voters who have the station allotted to them;

(c)the parts of any special lists prepared for the referendum corresponding to the register of electors or the part of it provided under sub-paragraph (b);

(d)a list, in the form set out in Form 5 in the Appendix or a form to like effect, consisting of that part of the list prepared under rule 8 which contains the numbers (but not the other unique identifying marks) corresponding to those on the ballot papers provided to the presiding officer of the polling station.

(5) The reference in paragraph (3)(b) to the copies of the register of electors includes a reference to copies of any notices issued under section 13B(3B) or (3D) of the 1983 Act M2 in respect of alterations to the register.

[F4(5A) The counting officer must also provide each polling station with a ballot paper refusal list, in the form set out in Form 11A in the Appendix or a form to like effect, on which entries are to be made as mentioned in rule 31A (refusal to deliver ballot paper).]

(6) The relevant returning or counting officer must also provide each polling station with—

(a)at least one large version of each ballot paper which must be printed on the same colour paper as the corresponding ballot paper and displayed inside the polling station for the assistance of voters and proxies who are partially sighted; and

[F5(b)such equipment as it is reasonable to provide for the purposes of enabling, or making it easier for, relevant persons to vote independently in the manner directed by rule 27 (voting procedure), including in relation to voting secretly; and for this purpose “relevant persons” means persons who find it difficult or impossible to vote in that manner because of—

(i)blindness or partial sight, or

(ii)another disability.]

[F6(6A) Paragraph (10) of rule 29 of Schedule 1 to the 1983 Act (Parliamentary elections rules: guidance to returning officers) applies for the purposes of paragraph (6)(b) of this rule as it applies for the purposes of that rule, but as if—

(a)the reference in that paragraph to the returning officer were a reference to the relevant returning or counting officer, and

(b)the reference in that paragraph to paragraph (3A)(b) were a reference to paragraph (6)(b) of this rule.]

(7) Where, notwithstanding paragraph (2), separate ballot boxes are to be used, each ballot box must be clearly marked—

(a)as to the election or referendum to which it relates, as shown on the ballot papers for the election or referendum; and

(b)with the words “Place the [specify colour of ballot papers in question] ballot papers here”.

(8) A notice in the form set out in Form 12 in the Appendix, giving directions for the guidance of voters and proxies in voting, must be printed in conspicuous characters and exhibited inside and outside every polling station.

[F7(8A) A large notice must be displayed inside each polling station containing—

(a)details of the documents the voter or proxy needs to produce when applying for a ballot paper, namely—

(i)in the case of a voter (other than a voter with an anonymous entry) or a proxy, any of the forms of identification for the time being referred to in rule 37(1H) of Schedule 1 to the 1983 Act (parliamentary elections rules);

(ii)in the case of a voter with an anonymous entry, the voter’s official poll card and an anonymous elector’s document showing the same electoral number as the electoral number shown on the official poll card; and

(b)a statement that further proof of identity may be required to resolve any discrepancy between the name of the holder of a form of identification and the name of the voter or proxy that the voter or proxy claims to be.]

(9) The relevant returning or counting officer may also provide copies of the notice mentioned in paragraph (8) in Braille or translated into languages other than English as the counting officer considers appropriate, provided that these notices are accurate reproductions in Braille or that other language of that notice.

F8F9[F10(10) In every compartment of every polling station there must be exhibited the notice—

“

”

 ]

F11(11) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Textual Amendments

F8Words in Sch. 5 rule 18(10): in rule 18 (equipment of polling stations), in paragraph (10), for the voting instructions for election of the mayor of London (which begins “#On the ballot paper”) substitute— #Vote for ONLY ONE candidate by putting a cross [X] in the box next to your choice (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending S.I.) by The Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling and Secrecy) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1225), reg. 9(4)(a)

F9Sch. 5 rule 18(10): words "EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION ([Specify colour] ballot paper) Vote ONLY ONCE by putting a cross [X] in the box next to your choice" revoked (31.12.2020) by The European Parliamentary Elections Etc. (Repeal, Revocation, Amendment and Saving Provisions) (United Kingdom and Gibraltar) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1310), reg. 1, Sch. 1 Pt. 2 (as amended by S.I. 2019/1389, regs. 1, 2(2))

Marginal Citations

M2Section 13B of the 1983 Act was inserted by paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 to the Representation of the People Act 2000 (c.2) and section 13(3B) and (3D) were inserted by section 11(4) of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 (c.22).

Appointment of polling observers and counting observersE+W

19.—(1) The counting officer may appoint persons to attend at polling stations for the purpose of detecting personation (“polling observers”).

(2) Where the counting officer is not the relevant returning or counting officer, the counting officer must give notice in writing of the appointments of polling observers to the relevant returning or counting officer.

(3) That notice must state the names and addresses of the persons appointed and must be given not later than the fifth day (disregarding any day specified in rule 4) before the day of the poll.

(4) Not more than four polling observers or polling agents, or such greater number as the relevant returning or counting officer may by notice allow, are permitted to attend at any particular polling station and if the number of such polling observers or agents exceeds that number, the relevant returning or counting officer must determine which polling observer or agents are permitted to attend by lot and only the polling observers and agents on whom the lot falls is deemed to have been duly appointed.

(5) The counting officer must appoint persons to observe the counting of the votes and the verification of the ballot paper account (“counting observers”).

(6) Where the counting officer is not the relevant returning or counting officer, the counting officer must give notice in writing of the appointments of counting observers to the relevant returning or counting officer as soon as is practicable following the appointment.

(7) In the following provisions of these Rules references to polling observers and counting observers are to be taken as references to polling observers and counting observers whose appointments have been duly made.

(8) Where by these Rules any act or thing is required or authorised to be done in the presence of the polling observers or counting observers, the non-attendance of any such person at the time and place appointed for the purpose does not, if the act or thing is otherwise duly done, invalidate the act or thing done.

Notification of requirement of secrecyE+W

20.—(1) The relevant returning or counting officer must make such arrangements as the officer thinks fit to ensure that—

(a)every person attending at a polling station (otherwise than for the purpose of voting or assisting a voter or proxy with disabilities to vote or as a constable on duty there) has been given a copy in writing of the provisions of subsections (1), (3) and (6) of section 66 of the 1983 Act M3, as applied by Schedule 4; and

(b)every person attending at the counting of the votes (other than any constable on duty at the counting) has been given a copy in writing of the provisions of subsections (2) and (6) of that section, as applied by Schedule 4.

[F12(2) In this rule, a reference to a constable includes a person designated as a community support officer under section 38 of the Police Reform Act 2002 (police powers for employees).]

Textual Amendments

Marginal Citations

M3Subsections (1), (2) and (3) of section 66 of the 1983 Act were amended by paragraphs 69, 82, 86(b) and 96 of Schedule 1 to the Electoral Administration Act 2006 (c.22); subsection (6) was amended by paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to the Representation of the People Act 1985 (c.50).

Return of postal ballot papersE+W

21.—(1) Where—

(a)a postal vote has been returned in respect of a person who is entered on the postal voters list; or

(b)a proxy postal vote has been returned in respect of a proxy who is entered on the proxy postal voters list,

the relevant returning or counting officer must mark the list in the manner prescribed by regulations made under the 1983 Act M4.

(2) In paragraph (1) for “relevant returning or counting officer” substitute “ counting officer ” where proceedings on the issue and receipt of postal ballot papers at the referendum are not taken together with such proceedings at one or more relevant elections.

(3) Rule 37(5) does not apply for the purpose of determining whether, for the purposes of this rule, a postal vote or a proxy postal vote is returned.

Marginal Citations