Postal voting statements: additional personal identifier verification
24.—(1) The constituency returning officer may on any occasion at which a postal voters' ballot box is opened in accordance with paragraph 19 undertake verification of the personal identifiers on any postal voting statement that has on a prior occasion been placed in the receptacle for postal voting statements.
(2) Where the returning officer undertakes additional verification of personal identifiers, he must—
(a)remove as many postal voting statements from the receptacle for postal voting statements as he wishes to subject to additional verification; and
(b)compare the date of birth and the signature on each such postal voting statement against the date of birth and signature contained in the personal identifiers record relating to the person to whom the postal ballot paper was addressed.
(3) Where the constituency returning officer is no longer satisfied that the postal voting statement has been duly completed he must mark the statement “rejected”, and before placing the postal voting statement in the receptacle for rejected votes (verification procedure) he must—
(a)show it to the agents and must permit them to view the entries in the personal identifiers record which relate to the person to whom the postal ballot paper was addressed, and if any of them object to his decision, he must add the words “rejection objected to”;
(b)open any postal ballot box and retrieve the ballot paper corresponding to the ballot paper on the postal voting statement;
(c)show the ballot paper number on the retrieved ballot paper to the agents; and
(d)attach the ballot paper to the postal voting statement.
(4) Following the removal of a postal ballot paper from a postal ballot box the constituency returning officer must reseal the postal ballot box in the presence of the agents.