The European Parliamentary Elections (Anonymous Registration) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2014

Amendments of the European Parliamentary Elections Rules

23.  After rule 43 (tendered ballot papers: general provisions), insert—

“Tendered postal ballot papers: issue to persons with an anonymous entry

43A.— (1) This rule applies to a person (“P”) who—

(a) is an elector with an anonymous entry in the register of electors, or

(b) is entitled to vote by post as proxy for such an elector,

and who claims to have lost, or not received, a postal ballot paper.

(2) P may apply to the returning officer for a replacement postal ballot paper (in these rules referred to as a “tendered postal ballot paper”).

(3) The application—

(a) may be made by post or in person,

(b) must be accompanied by a specified document within the meaning of rule 39, and

(c) must be delivered to the returning officer—

(i) where the application is made by post, before 4 p.m. on the fourth day before the day of the poll, and

(ii) where the application is made in person, before 4 p.m. on the day before the day of the poll.

(4) If the returning officer—

(a) is satisfied as to P’s identity, and

(b) has no reason to doubt that P has lost, or not received, a postal ballot paper,

the returning officer must issue a tendered postal ballot paper to P in the manner set out in paragraph 26A of Schedule 2(1).

(5) A tendered postal ballot paper must be of a different colour from the other ballot papers.

(6) P, if issued with a tendered postal ballot paper, may mark it, sign it, and send it to the returning officer in the same manner as a postal ballot paper.

(7) A tendered postal ballot paper which has not been signed, or which does not meet the conditions in rule 50(2) and (3), is void.

(8) On receipt of a tendered postal ballot paper, the returning officer must deal with it in the manner set out in paragraph 26A of Schedule 2.

(9) The returning officer must—

(a) endorse each tendered postal ballot paper with the entry in the register of electors of the elector in question, and

(b) set it aside in a separate packet of tendered postal ballot papers.

(10) The returning officer must add the entry in the register of electors of the elector in question to a list (in these rules referred to as the “tendered postal votes list”).

(11) The returning officer must seal the packet of tendered postal ballot papers.

(12) This rule applies in the case of a person in respect of whom a notice has been issued under section 13BA(9) of the 1983 Act (alteration of registers in Northern Ireland: pending elections)(2) as if—

(a) in paragraph (1) for “in the register of electors” there were substituted “in respect of whom a notice under section 13BA(9) has been issued”; and

(b) in paragraphs (9)(a) and (10), for “entry in the register of electors of the elector in question” there were substituted “entry relating to the elector in question on a notice issued under section 13BA(9)”.”.

(1)

Paragraph 26A is inserted by regulation 42 below.

(2)

Section 13BA was inserted by section 6 of the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006 (c.33) and amended by section 16 of the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 (c. 13), but that amendment is not yet in force.