The Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2008

[F1 Notification of a postal ballot paper rejected in accordance with regulation 84C or left behind N.I.

84I.— (1) This regulation applies where—

(a) an elector appears on the list compiled in accordance with regulation 84H(1),

(b) the information recorded on the list indicates that the elector’s postal voting documents included a postal ballot paper the number of which matched the postal ballot paper number marked on the elector’s declaration of identity, and

(c) the elector also appears on the record kept under section 6(3) of the 1985 Act (absent vote at elections for indefinite period).

(2) The registration officer must notify the following persons that the elector’s postal ballot paper was rejected in accordance with regulation 84C or (as the case may be) was a left behind postal voting document—

(a) the elector, and

(b) if a proxy was entitled to vote on the elector’s behalf, the proxy.

(3) The notification must include—

(a) where the elector’s postal ballot paper was rejected in accordance with regulation 84C, the reason or reasons for its rejection recorded on the list in accordance with regulation 84H(3)(c)(i), or

(b) where the elector’s postal ballot paper was a left behind postal voting document, that fact.

(4) The registration officer must send the notification within the period of three months beginning with the date of poll for which the elector’s postal ballot paper was issued.

(5) The registration officer is not obliged to send a notification to any person—

(a) who no longer appears on the record kept under section 6(3) of the 1985 Act at the time the registration officer proposes to send the notification, or

(b) whom the returning officer suspects may have committed an offence, other than an offence under section 112A of the 1983 Act (offences relating to handling of postal voting documents), in relation to—

(i) the elector’s postal voting documents, or

(ii) the elector’s registration on the register.

(6) A notification issued under paragraph (2) may include any additional information that the registration officer considers appropriate, subject to paragraph (7).

(7) The notification must not include the following information in relation to either the elector or, if a proxy was entitled to vote on the elector’s behalf, the proxy—

(a) date of birth;

(b) signature, or a record of the waiver by the registration officer of the requirement for a signature;

(c) national insurance number;

(d) (if applicable) digital registration number.

(8) In this regulation, “digital registration number” has the same meaning as in section 10B(1) of the 1983 Act.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Regs. 84A-84I inserted (26.3.2024) by The Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling etc.) (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 (S.I. 2024/319), regs. 1(2), 6 (with reg. 1(3))

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Regs. 84A-84I applied (26.3.2024) by S.I. 2001/2599, Sch. 2 (as amended by The Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling etc.) (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 (S.I. 2024/319), regs. 1(2), 13(3) (with reg. 1(3)))