The National Assembly for Wales (Representation of the People) Order 2003

Absent vote at Assembly elections for a particular or an indefinite period

8.—(1) Where a person applies to the registration officer to vote by post, or to vote by proxy, at Assembly elections (whether for an indefinite period or for a particular period specified in his application), the registration officer shall grant the application (subject to paragraph (5)) if—

(a) in the case of an application to vote by proxy, he is satisfied that the applicant is eligible to vote by proxy at Assembly elections,

(b) he is satisfied that the applicant is or will be registered in the register for local government elections, and

(c) the applicant meets the requirements set out in Schedule 2.

(2) For the purposes of this article, a person is eligible to vote by proxy at Assembly elections —

(a) if he is or will be registered as a service voter,

(b) if he cannot reasonably be expected—

(i) to go in person to the polling station allotted or likely to be allotted to him under this Order, or

(ii) to vote unaided there,

by reason of blindness or other physical incapacity,

(c) if he cannot reasonably be expected to go in person to that polling station by reason of the general nature of his occupation, service or employment or that of his spouse, or by reason of his or his spouse’s attendance on a course provided by an educational institution, or

(d) if he cannot go in person from his qualifying address to that polling station without making a journey by air or sea.

(3) The registration officer shall keep a record of those whose applications under this article have been granted showing whether their applications were to vote by post or proxy for an indefinite or a particular period (specifying that period).

(4) The record kept under paragraph (3) shall also show—

(a) in the case of those who may vote by post, the addresses provided by them in their application as the addresses to which their ballot papers are to be sent, and

(b) in the case of those who may vote by proxy, the names and addresses of those appointed as their proxies.

(5) The registration officer shall remove a person from the record kept under paragraph (3)—

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

(b) in the case of any registered person, if he ceases to be registered or registered at the same qualifying address or ceases to be, or becomes, registered in pursuance of—

(i) a service declaration, or

(ii) a declaration of local connection,

(c) in the case of any person shown in the record as voting by proxy, if the registration officer gives notice that he has reason to believe there has been a material change of circumstances, or

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

(6) A person shown in the record kept under paragraph (3) as voting by post may subsequently alter his choice by applying to the registration officer to vote by proxy instead (whether for an indefinite period or for a particular period specified in his application); and if the registration officer would be required to grant that application if it were an application to vote by proxy under paragraph (1), the registration officer shall amend the record accordingly.

(7) A person shown in the record kept under paragraph (3) as voting by proxy may subsequently alter his choice by applying to the registration officer to vote by post instead (whether for an indefinite period or for a particular period specified in his application); and if the application meets the requirements of Schedule 2, the registration officer shall amend the record accordingly.

(8) A person applying to vote by post must provide an address in the United Kingdom as the address to which his ballot paper or, where he is entitled to give two votes at an ordinary election, ballot papers shall be sent.