Representation of the People Act 1983

Place and manner of voting at parliamentary elections

18 Polling districts and places at parliamentary elections

(1) Every constituency shall be divided into polling districts and subject to the provisions of this section there shall be a polling place designated for each polling district.

(2) In England and Wales it is the duty of the council of each district or London borough to divide their area into polling districts for the purpose of parliamentary elections for so much of any constituency as is situated in their area, and to designate the polling places for those polling districts, and to keep the polling districts and polling places under review, in accordance with the following rules—

(a) the council shall exercise the powers conferred by this section with a view to giving all electors in so much of the constituency as falls within their area such reasonable facilities for voting as are practicable in the circumstances;

(b) in the case of a county constituency, each parish or community shall in the absence of special circumstances be a separate polling district or districts;

(c) the polling place for any polling district shall be an area in that district, except where special circumstances make it desirable to designate an area wholly or partly outside the polling district, and shall be small enough to indicate to electors in different parts of the polling district how they will be able to reach the polling station;

(d) a polling place need not be designated for any polling district, if the size and other circumstances of the district are such that the situation of the polling stations does not materially affect the convenience of the electors or any body of them.

(3) In Scotland it is the returning officer's duty to make the division into polling districts and to designate the polling places, and to keep the polling districts and polling places under review in accordance with the following rules—

(a) the returning officer shall exercise the powers conferred by this section with a view to giving all electors in the constituency such reasonable facilities for voting as are practicable in the circumstances ;

(b) each electoral area established for the purpose of local government elections which is within the constituency, and that part within the constituency of any such area which is partly within the constituency and partly within another constituency, shall, in the absence of special circumstances, be a separate polling district or districts ;

(c) the polling place for any polling district shall be an area in that district, except where special circumstances make it desirable to designate an area wholly or partly outside the polling district, and shall be small enough to indicate to electors in different parts of the polling district how they will be able to reach the polling station;

(d) a polling place need not be designated for any polling district, if the size and other circumstances of the district are such that the situation of the polling stations does not materially affect the convenience of the electors or any body of them.

(4) In the case of a polling district for which no polling place is designated the polling district shall be taken to be the polling place for the purposes of this Act.

(5) If any interested authority or not less than 30 electors in a constituency make a representation to the Secretary of State that the powers conferred by this section have not been exercised so as to meet the reasonable requirements of the electors in the constituency or any body of those electors, the Secretary of State shall consider the representation and may, if he thinks fit

(a) direct the council (or in Scotland, the returning officer)by whom the powers are exercisable, to make any alterations which the Secretary of State thinks necessary in the circumstances, and

(b) if the council or returning officer fails to make those alterations within a month after the direction is given, himself make the alterations,

and any alterations made by the Secretary of State under this subsection shall have effect as if they had been made by the council or returning officer.

In this subsection the expression " interested authority ", in relation to any constituency, means—

(i) as respects England, the council or where there is no such council the parish meeting of a parish which is wholly or partly situated within the constituency ;

(ii) as respects Wales, the council of a community which is so situated;

(iii) as respects Scotland, the council of any region, islands area or district within whose area the constituency is wholly or partly situated.

(6) On the exercise of any power given by this section, the council or returning officer—

(a) shall publish in the constituency a notice showing the boundaries of any polling districts or polling places constituted as a result of the exercise of the power; and

(b) unless the power was exercised by the Secretary of State, shall also send him a report giving the same information.

(7) Subsections (2) to (6) above do not apply to Northern Ireland, and in Northern Ireland the polling districts and polling places are those for the time being established under the law relating to the election of members to serve in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

(8) Regulations—

(a) may provide for adapting the register in force for the time being to any alteration of polling districts, and

(b) may make special provisions for cases where any alteration of polling districts is made between the publication of any electors lists and the coming into force of the register prepared from those lists,

but except in cases for which provision is made by regulations an alteration of polling districts shall not be effective until the coming into force of the first register prepared from electors lists published after the alteration is made.

(9) An election shall not be questioned by reason of—

(a) any non-compliance with the provisions of this section ; or

(b) any informality relative to polling districts or polling places.

19 Voting at parliamentary elections

(1) A person voting as an elector at a parliamentary election shall do so in person at the polling station allotted to him under the parliamentary elections rules except in so far as this section makes exceptions for—

(a) those registered as service voters ;

(b) those unable or likely to be unable to go in person to the polling station for one of the following reasons—

(i) the general nature of the occupation, service or employment of the person in question ;

(ii) that person's service as a member of any of Her Majesty's reserve or auxiliary forces;

(iii) the particular circumstances of that person's employment on the date of the poll either as a constable or, for a purpose connected with the election, by the returning officer;

(iv) at a general election, the candidature in some other constituency of that person or that person's wife or husband;

(v) at a general election, the fact that that person is acting as returning officer for some other constituency ;

(vi) at a general election, the particular circumstances of that person's employment on the date of the poll by the returning officer for some other constituency for a purpose connected with the election in that constituency;

(c) those unable or likely to be unable, by reason either of blindness or any other physical incapacity or of religious observance, to go in person to the polling station or, if able to go, to vote unaided ;

(d) those unable or likely to be unable to go in person from their qualifying address to the polling station without making a journey by air or sea;

(e) those no longer residing at their qualifying address ;

(f) those registered by virtue of a patient's declaration under section 7 above ;

(g) those who have a service qualification depending on marriage to, and residence outside the United Kingdom to be with, a person having a service qualification; and

(h) those unable or likely to be unable to go in person to the polling station by reason of the general nature of the occupation, service or employment of, and their resulting absence from their qualifying address to be with, their husband or wife.

(2) A person registered as a service voter may vote by proxy unless he is entitled in pursuance of an application made under subsection (4) below to vote by post.

(3) A person not registered as a service voter if unable or likely to be unable to go in person to the polling station by reason either—

(a) of the general nature of his occupation, service or employment, or

(b) of his service as a member of any of Her Majesty's reserve or auxiliary forces,

may vote by proxy if he applies to be treated as an absent voter and is likely to be at sea or out of the United Kingdom on the date of the poll.

(4) A person mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (f) of subsection (1) above may vote by post if he applies to be treated as an absent voter and provides an address in the United Kingdom to which a ballot paper is to be sent for the purpose, but—

(a) a person shall not be entitled to vote by post if he is not registered as a service voter and there is in force an appointment of a proxy to vote for him; and

(b) a person shall not be entitled to vote by post on the ground that he no longer resides at his qualifying address if at the time of his application he resides at an address in the same area; and

(c) a person registered as a service voter shall not be entitled to vote by post on any ground other than his being so registered.

For the purposes of this subsection an address shall not be treated as in the same area as a qualifying address unless it would be so treated under section 22(3) below for the purposes of that section.

(5) A person who is not registered as a service voter but who either—

(a) has made a service declaration in respect of a qualification depending on marriage as described in subsection (1) above, or

(b) is as a married person unable or likely to be unable to go to the poll by reason of absence in the circumstances there described,

has the like right to vote by proxy and, in the case dealt with by paragraph (b) above, the like right to vote by post as a person unable or likely to be unable to go to the poll by reason of the general nature of his occupation, service or employment.

(6) A person, whether registered as a service voter or not—

(a) may vote in person as an elector notwithstanding any appointment of a proxy to vote for him, if he applies for a ballot paper for the purpose before a ballot paper has been issued for him to vote by proxy; but (b) shall not be entitled to vote in person as an elector—

(i) where he may vote by proxy by virtue of an appointment for the time being in force and he does not so apply ; or

(ii) where he has applied to be treated as an absent voter and is entitled in pursuance of the application to vote by post.

(7) A person not registered as a service voter may vote at any polling station in the constituency if he is entitled to vote in person but unable or likely to be unable to go to the polling station allotted to him by reason of the particular circumstances of his employment on the date of the poll either—

(a) as a constable ; or

(b) by the returning officer, for a purpose connected with the election.

(8) Nothing in this section confers a right to vote on a person not having the right apart from this section.

20 Absent voters at parliamentary elections

(1) An application to be treated as an absent voter at parliamentary elections shall be made to the registration officer and shall be allowed by him if he is satisfied that the applicant is, or will if registered be, entitled under section 19 above to vote as an absent voter.

(2) The application shall be for a particular election only, unless it is based on—

(a) the general nature of the applicant's occupation, service or employment; or

(b) the applicant's physical incapacity ; or

(c) the necessity of a journey by sea or air to go from the applicant's qualifying address to his polling station; or

(d) the ground that the applicant no longer resides at his qualifying address.

(3) An application based on one of the grounds mentioned in subsection (2) above shall be for an indefinite period but where such an application is allowed the applicant shall cease to be entitled to be treated as an absent voter in pursuance of it if—

(a) he applies to the registration officer to be no longer so treated; or

(b) he ceases to be registered at the same qualifying address or becomes so registered as a service voter ; or

(c) the registration officer gives notice that be has reason to believe there has been a material change of circumstances, and the prescribed period elapses after the giving of the notice.

(4) This section applies to an application based on the grounds related to the applicant's marriage referred to in paragraphs (g) and (h) of section 19(1) as it applies to an application based on the general nature of the applicant's occupation, service or employment.

(5) The registration officer shall keep a record of absent voters and of the addresses provided by them as the addresses to which their ballot papers are to be sent.

21 Proxies at parliamentary elections

(1) A person is not entitled to have more than one person at a time appointed as a proxy to vote for him at a parliamentary election.

(2) A person is not capable of being appointed to vote or of voting as proxy at a parliamentary election unless—

(a) he is not subject (age apart) to any legal incapacity to vote at a parliamentary election as an elector, and

(b) he is either a Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland,

and a person is not entitled to vote as proxy at the same election in any constituency on behalf of more than two electors of whom that person is not the husband, wife, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, child or grandchild.

(3) A person otherwise qualified is capable of voting as proxy at a parliamentary election at which he is of voting age on the date of the poll, and of being appointed proxy for that purpose before he is of voting age.

(4) Subject to the foregoing provisions of this section a person is capable of being appointed proxy to vote at a parliamentary election and may vote in pursuance of the appointment.

(5) The appointment shall be made by the registration officer by means of a proxy paper issued by him on the elector's application, and it is the registration officer's duty to issue a proxy paper in pursuance of any application duly made to him, if he is satisfied—

(a) that the applicant is or will be registered for elections to which the application relates and entitled in respect of that registration to have a proxy appointed; and

(b) that the proxy is capable of being and willing to be appointed.

(6) The appointment may be cancelled by the elector by giving notice to the registration officer and shall cease to be in force on the issue of a proxy paper appointing a different person to vote for him, whether in respect of the same registration or elsewhere, but, subject to that, shall remain in force—

(a) in the case of an appointment for a person registered as a service voter, for all elections for which he remains registered as a service voter at the same qualifying address; and

(b) in the case of an appointment for a person not registered as a service voter, for all elections at which he is entitled to vote by proxy in pursuance of the same application to be treated as an absent voter.

(7) Stamp duty is not chargeable on any instrument appointing a proxy under this section.

(8) The registration officer shall keep a record of electors for whom proxies have been appointed and of the names and addresses of the persons appointed.

22 Voting as proxy at parliamentary elections

(1) A person voting as proxy for an elector at a parliamentary election shall do so in person at the elector's polling station, except in so far as this section entitles the proxy to vote by post.

(2) A proxy may exercise the right to vote as such at a parliamentary election by post if—

(a) he applies so to do and provides an address in the United Kingdom to which a ballot paper is to be sent for the purpose ; and

(b) either—

(i) he is entitled to vote by post as an absent voter at the election ; or

(ii) that address is not in the same area as the elector's qualifying address.

(3) For the purposes of this section, an address shall not be treated as in the same area as a qualifying address unless—

(a) both addresses are in the same electoral division of Greater London, or

(b) both addresses are in the same electoral division of a county in England and, if either address is in a parish, both are in the same parish, or

(c) both addresses are in the same electoral division of a county in Wales and in the same community, or

(d) both addresses are in the same electoral division in Scotland, or

(e) both addresses are in the same ward in Northern Ireland.

(4) A proxy is not entitled to exercise the right to vote as such in person at any election for which his application to exercise that right by post is allowed.

(5) Any such application shall be made to the registration officer and shall be allowed by him in any case where he is satisfied—

(a) that the elector is or will be registered as such for elections to which the application relates; and

(b) that there is in force an appointment of the applicant as his proxy to vote in respect of that registration ; and

(c) that the conditions entitling the applicant to vote by post are fulfilled.

(6) Where any such application is based on the applicant's right to vote by post as an elector, then—

(a) if that right extends only to a particular election, the application shall also extend only to that election;

(b) in any other case, the application shall be for an indefinite period but, where it is allowed, the applicant shall cease to be entitled to vote by post in pursuance of that right if—

(i) he ceases to have the right to vote by post as an elector, or has that right only by virtue of a new application; or

(ii) he ceases to be proxy for the elector, or is so only by virtue of a new appointment.

(7) Where any such application is based on the situation of the address to which the ballot paper is to be sent, it shall be for an indefinite period but, if it is allowed, the applicant shall cease to be entitled to vote by post in pursuance of it if—

(a) he applies for a ballot paper not to be sent to that address; or

(b) he ceases to be proxy for the elector, or is so only by virtue of a new appointment

(8) The registration officer shall keep a record of the persons whose applications to vote by post as proxy are for the time being allowed and of the addresses provided by them as the addresses to which their ballot papers are to be sent.