PART 5ISSUE AND RECEIPT OF POSTAL BALLOT PAPERS

Receipt of Postal Ballot Papers

Forwarding of documentsC1C291

1

The returning officer shall forward to the Clerk of the Crown for Northern Ireland at the same time as he forwards the documents mentioned in rule 5569 of the elections rules—

a

any packets referred to in regulations 79, 81(5) F2, 81A(11)F4, 84G(1)(a) and 89, subject to regulation 90, endorsing on each packet a description of its contents, the date of the election to which it relates and the name of the constituency for which the election was held; F3...

F1aa

the list of spoilt ballot papers and the list of tendered postal ballot papers; and

b

a completed statement in Form N.

2

Where—

a

any covering envelopes are received by the returning officer after the close of the poll;

b

any envelopes addressed to postal voters are returned as undelivered too late to be readdressed; or

c

any spoilt postal ballot papers are returned too late to enable other postal ballot papers to be issued,

the returning officer shall put them unopened in a separate packet, seal up that packet and endorse and forward it at a subsequent date in the manner described in paragraph (1).

F52A

The returning officer must also forward to the Clerk of the Crown for Northern Ireland the list compiled in accordance with regulation 84H(1), together with the packets made up in accordance with regulation 84G(1)(b) and resealed in accordance with regulation 84H(6)(c), as soon as reasonably practicable after the registration officer has met the duty in regulation 84I(2) in relation to each elector on the list.

3

Rules 5670 and 5771 of the elections rules shall apply to any packet or document forwarded under this regulation F6, subject to paragraph (3A).

F73A

For the purposes of the application of rules 56 and 57 of the election rules to the packets and documents forwarded under this regulation, the following are to be treated in the same manner as a counted ballot paper—

a

the list compiled in accordance with regulation 84H(1) and any extracts from it;

b

return of postal voting documents forms.

4

A copy of the statement referred to in paragraph (1)(b) shall be provided by the returning officer to the Electoral Commission.