The Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2014

Amendment of Schedule 3 to the Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2008

32.—(1) Schedule 3 (forms) is amended as follows.

(2) In the Arrangement of Forms—

(a) after the entry for Form A insert—

“Form A1: Elector’s Official Postal Poll Card”; and

(b) after the entry for Form B insert—

“Form B1: Proxy’s Official Postal Poll Card”.

(3) After Form A (elector’s official poll card), insert Form A1 in Schedule 2.

(4) After Form B (proxy’s official poll card), insert Form B1 in Schedule 2.

(5) In Form E (proxy paper), in the section headed “Your Right to Vote as Proxy”, after paragraph 4 insert—

“5.   If you have been appointed as a proxy on behalf of an elector who has an anonymous entry in the register, you can only vote by post. If you have not already been granted a postal vote, you should contact the electoral registration officer.”.

(6) In Form L (declaration of identity)—

(a) before “Name of witness” insert “*”;

(b) before “Address of witness” insert “*”, and after that paragraph insert—

“*(Returning officer to omit where ballot papers sent to an anonymous elector.)”; and

(c) in the section entitled “Instructions to the voter”, at the end of paragraph 1 insert “If you are an elector with an anonymous entry in the register, or you are the proxy for such a person, the name and address of the witness should not be included. However, you do need to sign this declaration in the presence of a witness and the witness must sign the form.”.

(7) In Form M (declaration of identity (combined polls))—

(a) before “Name of witness” insert “*”;

(b) before “Address of witness” insert “*”, and after that paragraph insert—

“*(Returning officer to omit where ballot papers sent to an anonymous elector.)”; and

(c) In the section entitled “Instructions to the voter”, at the end of paragraph 1 insert “If you have an anonymous entry in the register, or you are the proxy for such a person, the witness must not add his or her name and address.”.

(8) In Form N (statement as to postal ballot papers)—

(a) after paragraph 10 insert—

“10A.   Number of tendered postal ballot papers issued

10B.   Number of covering envelopes for tendered postal ballot papers received”; and

(b) after paragraph 13 insert—

“14.   Number of tendered postal ballot papers marked rejected”.