Postal voting
 Postal voting    | |
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Postal voting is voting in an election whereby ballot papers are distributed to electors or returned by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system. Historically, postal votes must be distributed and placed in return mail before the scheduled election day, it is sometimes referred to as a form of early voting. It can also be used as an absentee ballot. However, in recent times the model in the US has morphed, in municipalities that use postal voting exclusively, to be one of ballots being mailed out to voters, but the return method taking on alternatives of return by mail or dropping off the ballot in person via secure drop boxes and/or polling stations.
Postal voting refers only to the means by which the ballots are submitted, not to the method by which the votes are counted. Election officials may count the votes by processing the mailed-in ballots through electronic voting machines, or may count the votes manually.
UK procedure
Registered voters who wish to vote by post must submit an additional application form to the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) at their local authority (or to the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland if in Northern Ireland) stating whether they want their ballot paper to be sent for one single election, all elections until a specified date or indefinitely. They must also submit their date of birth, and signature specimen on the form (or apply for a grant of a signature waiver due to a disability or inability to read or write[1]). In addition, if a person eligible to vote in the United Kingdom is chosen by another voter to be his/her proxy, the proxy can apply to vote by post. To receive a postal vote for an election, the postal vote application must have been received by the Electoral Registration Officer by 5pm eleven working days before polling day.
Returning officers issue and despatch postal ballot packs at 5pm on the eleventh working day before polling day at the earliest. Issue of postal ballots is not open to the scrutiny of candidates and their agents; by law, only the returning officers, their staff, representatives of the Electoral Commission and observers accredited by the Electoral Commission are permitted to attend. Some returning officers produce postal ballot packs in-house, whilst others outsource the process to an external company such as Idox Elections.
Each postal ballot pack contains inside the cover envelope a ballot paper, two envelopes ("A" and "B") and a postal voting statement. Postal ballot papers contain the following design, security and identification features on the reverse:[2][3]
- an official mark (e.g. a watermark or an official stamp);
- a unique identifying mark (e.g. a barcode which is different for each individual ballot paper);
- a unique identification number.
When issuing each postal ballot paper, the officer marks on a list (called the corresponding number list) next to the postal ballot's unique identification number the elector number of the voter to whom the postal ballot is sent, and then makes a mark next to the voter's name in a separate list of postal voters. The unique identification number of the postal ballot paper is also marked on the postal voting statement sent within the postal ballot pack. The local authority name and address and the name of the constituency/ward are printed on both envelopes "A" and "B". Once all ballot papers for an election have been issued by the returning officer, the corresponding number list is sealed in a packet which can only be opened upon the order of a court when an election result is challenged.[4][5]
Upon receipt of the postal ballot pack, the voter completes the ballot paper according to the instructions and seals it inside the envelope marked "A". A separate postal voting statement must be filled in by the voter with his/her date of birth and signature (unless a signature waiver has been granted or if the voter is an anonymous elector). It is strongly recommended that postal voting statement and envelope "A" (containing the ballot paper) be placed and sealed inside the larger envelope "B" when returned, although this is not a requirement. The vote can be posted back to the returning officer at the local authority address (postage is prepaid when returned from within the United Kingdom), or returned in person to the returning officer at the local authority office, or directly handed in to a polling station on polling day (but only one which is situated within the constituency/ward marked on envelopes "A"/"B").[6][7] For the vote to be counted, it must reach the returning officer/polling station by the close of poll (usually 10pm on polling day).
Upon receipt of a postal ballot pack in the post (or of the postal ballot paper and postal voting statement if sent separately), the returning officer places it inside the postal voters' ballot box allocated to the particular constituency/ward. If a presiding officer receives a postal ballot pack in a polling station, it is sealed inside a packet which is later delivered to the returning officer at the close of poll together with a form recording the number of postal ballot packs received by the presiding officer.[8][9]
Candidates and their agents, representatives of the Electoral Commission and observers accredited by them and entitled to observe the opening of postal ballot packs - the returning officer must give candidates and their agents at least 48 hours' written notice of the time and location of every opening session of postal ballot packs.[10] After emptying the postal voters' ballot box, the postal voting statements and envelopes marked "A"/loose postal ballot papers are separated into two different groups. The returning officer is required to verify the date of birth and signature filled in on at least 20% of the postal voting statements from each postal voters ballot box with the details provided on the original postal vote application forms. If the details do not match, then the postal voting statement is rejected. The returning officer makes a mark next to the name of the voter on the postal voters list for each postal voting statement received, even if it is selected for verification and rejected. On a separate list, the returning officer must write down the unique identification numbers of postal voting statements which were chosen for verification and subsequently rejected.
The returning officer then compiles all loose postal ballot papers together with postal ballot papers having been removed from envelopes marked "A". The unique identification numbers of all rejected postal ballot papers are noted on a list. The postal ballot papers are counted and finally placed in the postal ballot box(es), except for rejected postal ballot papers and postal ballot papers which have the same unique identification number as rejected postal voting statements. The postal ballot box is securely sealed by the returning officer (candidates and agents can also apply their own seals).
Counting
At the count, the postal ballot boxes have their seals broken, are opened and then the postal ballot papers are counted.
Voters can contact the returning officer to check that their postal voting packs (or their postal voting statements and their postal ballot papers) have been received - however a response can only be given after an opening session since the returning officer will have to refer to the postal voters list. At the end of an election, the marked postal voter lists are open for public inspection and also can be purchased by the Electoral Commission, candidates, elected representatives, government departments, police forces, registered political parties and local constituency parties.
Allegations of fraud
There have been many allegations of electoral abuse since the introduction of postal voting on demand in 2001. This note gives a brief history of postal voting including the all-postal pilots at local and European Parliamentary elections in 2004. The different election offences are outlined and the note also explains the means of challenging an election result by election petition. A chronology is given of recent developments including allegations of postal vote fraud at recent elections and subsequent court cases.[11][12]
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:Tory in Charge of Entire Scottish Council Election Count | Article | 29 April 2017 | Mel Kelly | Being a software engineer myself, my first thought was - could this be easily used to print replacement postal votes with the voters' ID and their signature, changing our vote for a different candidate while binning your postal vote? I had to conclude yes it could. |
References
- ↑ Representation of the People Act 2000, Schedule 4, Paragraphs 3(8), 4(5) and 7(11)
- ↑ The Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001, Section 72
- ↑ Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001, Section 72
- ↑ The Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001, Section 75(1)
- ↑ Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001, Section 75(1)
- ↑ The Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001, Section 79(1)
- ↑ Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001, Section 79(1)(a)
- ↑ The Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001, Section 79(3)
- ↑ Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001, Section 79(2)
- ↑ The Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001, Section 80
- ↑ "Postal voting and electoral fraud 2001-09"
- ↑ "Postal and proxy voting" page 28, Electoral Commission report
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