The Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2014

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make amendments to the Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/1741) (“the 2008 Regulations”) to implement a scheme of anonymous registration in Northern Ireland.

Anonymous registration is available to those persons for whom the publication of their name and address in the electoral register would pose a threat to safety. This may include victims of domestic violence, witnesses in certain criminal cases and other vulnerable people who may wish to vote but are afraid that certain individuals may use the electoral register to establish their whereabouts. Provision for anonymous registration in Great Britain was made by section 10 of, and Schedule 1 to, the Electoral Administration Act 2006 (c. 22). Those provisions were extended to Northern Ireland, with some modifications, by the Anonymous Registration (Northern Ireland) Order 2014 (S.I. 2014/1116). Under that scheme, an elector is entitled to have an anonymous entry in the electoral register for up to five years if the safety of the applicant, or that of any other person of the same household, would be at risk on publication of the applicant’s details in the register. The registration officer will determine when a person’s entitlement to an anonymous entry will expire and, unless the person makes a fresh application for such an entry or for a regular entry in the register, the person’s entry will be removed from the register on that date (sections 9B and 9C, Representation of the People Act 1983 (c. 2)). A person with an anonymous entry (and, where applicable, the proxy of such a person) is not entitled to vote at the polling station in person, and instead must vote by post (sections 5 to 9, Representation of the People Act 1985 (c. 50)).

Regulation 4 inserts new regulation 26A into the 2008 Regulations, which provides for a reminder to be sent to each person who has an anonymous entry between three and six months before it is due to expire, unless the registration officer has received a fresh application for an anonymous entry.

Regulations 5 to 9 make amendments to the requirements of an application for registration, the inspection of such applications and the procedure for determination of such applications. If an application for registration is accompanied by an application for an anonymous entry, the application for registration must state that fact and that application cannot be inspected by the public or objected to. Where the registration officer conducts a review of the elector’s entitlement to be registered, that review will not be included in the list of reviews.

Regulation 10 inserts new regulations 38A to 38E into the 2008 Regulations. These regulations provide for the contents of an application for an anonymous entry. Such an application must include either evidence of a relevant injunction or order (regulation 38C) or an attestation by a qualifying officer, such as a senior police officer or a senior social worker, that the safety of the applicant, or that of any other person of the same household, would be at risk on publication of the applicant’s details in the register (regulation 38D). The date upon which the relevant order or injunction or the attestation will expire or cease to have effect will be the date upon which the anonymous entry will expire, but the maximum period for which an entry can have effect without a further fresh application is five years (regulation 38B). During that period, the registration officer may conduct a review of the person’s entitlement to an anonymous entry (regulation 38E).

Regulation 11 amends regulation 39 of the 2008 Regulations and provides for the exercise of a person’s right of appeal against the registration officer’s decision that the person is not entitled, or is no longer entitled, to an anonymous entry.

Regulation 12 inserts new regulation 50A into the 2008 Regulations, which provides for the content and location of an anonymous entry in the register.

Regulation 14 amends regulation 53 of the 2008 Regulations and provides that the list of overseas electors must contain, in respect of a person with an anonymous entry, only the electoral number and the date upon which the anonymous entry will expire.

Regulation 15 inserts new regulations 53A to 53D into the 2008 Regulations. The registration officer is required to maintain a record of anonymous entries, which will contain details about persons with an anonymous entry (regulation 53A). The registration officer and his staff, and other persons to whom the record can be supplied in relation to crime and national security, are under specific duties of confidentiality in relation to that record (regulations 53B and 53C). The registration officer is required to issue a certificate of anonymous entry to persons with an anonymous entry (regulation 53D). Regulation 30 includes the disclosure of information contrary to new regulations 53B or 53C in the list of offences under regulation 114 of the 2008 Regulations.

Regulations 3, 16 to 21, 25, 26, 32 and Schedule 2 make amendments to the 2008 Regulations in relation to applications for an absent vote by, and the issue of postal poll cards to, persons with an anonymous entry or their proxies. Persons with an anonymous entry must state that fact on an application for an absent vote, and will not have to provide an explanation for a ballot paper to be sent to a different address from that in the register or the record of those who have been granted an absent vote. An application by a person with an anonymous entry for the appointment of a proxy must be accompanied by an application by the proxy for a postal vote. The registration officer must not make available for inspection a copy of any record relating to a person with an anonymous entry or the proxy of such a person. A postal poll card must be issued to persons who have a postal vote, including persons with an anonymous entry and their proxies. The postal ballot papers issued to a person with an anonymous entry or the proxy of such a person must be sent to the address that would have appeared in the absent voters list or the list of proxy voters if such information had not been confidential. If a person with an anonymous entry or the proxy of such a person is to be included in the list of spoilt ballot papers, that list must show only the person’s electoral number.

Regulations 22 to 24 and 27 to 29 provide for the issue of tendered postal ballot papers to persons with an anonymous entry who have lost or did not receive their postal ballot papers. Such persons are not permitted to mark a tendered ballot paper at the polling station in the normal way (see rules 40 and 40ZA of the parliamentary elections rules contained in Schedule 1 to the Representation of the People Act 1983, as amended) so a new mechanism is created to allow such persons to submit an equivalent by post.

Regulation 30 ensures that the edited register omits all anonymous entries in the register and any information relating to them.

Regulations 2, 13 and 31 make minor and consequential amendments to the 2008 Regulations in relation to anonymous registration.

An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sector is foreseen.