The European Parliamentary Elections Regulations 2004

[F1 Voting as proxy E+W+S

7.— (1) A person entitled to vote as proxy at a European Parliamentary election may do so in person at his allotted polling station unless he is entitled to vote by post as proxy for the elector at the election, in which case he may vote by post.

(2) Where a person is entitled to vote by post as proxy for the elector at any election, the elector may not apply for a ballot paper for the purpose of voting in person at the election.

(3) For the purposes of these Regulations, the 1983 Act, the 2002 Act and the 2003 Act, a person entitled to vote as proxy for another at a European Parliamentary election is entitled so to vote by post if he is included in the list kept under sub-paragraph (8) in respect of the election.

(4) Where a person applies to the registration officer to vote by post—

(a) as proxy at European Parliamentary elections (whether for an indefinite period or for a particular period specified in his application); or

(b) as proxy at a particular European Parliamentary election,

the registration officer must grant the application if the conditions set out in sub-paragraph (5) are satisfied.

(5) Those conditions are—

(a) that the registration officer is satisfied that the elector is or will be registered in the register of electors;

(b) that there is in force an appointment of the applicant as the elector’s proxy to vote for him at European Parliamentary elections, or, as the case may be, the election concerned; and

(c) that the application contains the applicant’s signature and date of birth and meets the requirements of Part 2.

(6) The registration officer must keep a record of those whose applications under sub-paragraph (4)(a) have been granted showing —

(a) whether their applications were to vote by post or by proxy for an indefinite or particular period (specifying that period); and

(b) the addresses provided by them in their applications as the addresses to which their ballot papers are to be sent.

(7) Where, in the case of a particular European Parliamentary election, a person included in the record kept under sub-paragraph (6) applies to the registration officer for his ballot paper to be sent to a different address from that shown in the record, the registration officer must grant the application if it meets the requirements of Part 2.

(8) The registration officer must, in respect of each European Parliamentary election, keep a special list (“the proxy postal voters list”) of—

(a) those who are for the time being included in the record kept under sub-paragraph (6), together with the addresses provided by them in their applications under sub-paragraph (4)(a) or, as the case may be, sub-paragraph (7) as the addresses to which their ballot papers are to be sent; and

(b) those whose applications under sub-paragraph (4)(b) have been granted in respect of the election concerned, together with the addresses provided by them in their applications as the addresses to which their ballot papers are to be sent,

and, forthwith on completion of the compilation of that list, supply to the local returning officer for any local counting area wholly or partly within the area for which he acts so much of that list as relates to any such area.

(9) In the case of a person who has an anonymous entry in a register, the list mentioned in sub-paragraph (8) must contain only—

(a) the person’s electoral number, and

(b) the period for which the anonymous entry has effect.

(10) The registration officer must remove a person from the record kept under sub-paragraph (6)—

(a) if he applies to the registration officer to be removed;

(b) if the elector ceases to be registered in the register of electors;

(c) if the appointment of the person concerned as the elector’s proxy ceases to be in force (whether or not he is re-appointed); or

(d) in the case of a person who applied to vote by post as proxy for a particular period, once that period expires.

(11) Sub-paragraph (2) does not prevent a person, at the polling station allotted to him, marking a tendered ballot paper in pursuance of rule 44(4) or (6) of the European Parliamentary elections rules.

(12) The registration officer may dispense with the requirement under sub-paragraph (5)(c) for the applicant to provide a signature if he is satisfied that the applicant is unable—

(a) to provide a signature because of any disability the applicant has;

(b) to provide a signature because the applicant is unable to read or write; or

(c) to sign in a consistent and distinctive way because of any such disability or inability.

(13) The registration officer must also keep a record in relation to those whose applications under sub-paragraph (4)(a) or (b) have been granted showing—

(a) their dates of birth;

(b) except in cases where the registration officer in pursuance of sub-paragraph (12) has dispensed with the requirement to provide a signature, their signatures.

(14) The record kept under sub-paragraph (13) must be retained by the registration officer for the period calculated by reference to paragraph 18(1).]

Textual Amendments

F1 Sch. 2 substituted (30.1.2009) by The European Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Regulations 2009 (S.I. 2009/186), regs. 1(2), 40, Sch. 3