The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Amendment) Order 2014

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Police and Crime Commissioner Elections Order 2012 (S.I. 2012/1917) (the “2012 Order”). Its main purpose is to apply, for the purposes of police and crime commissioner elections (“PCC elections”), changes that have been or are to be made to the legislation relating to the administration of parliamentary and local government elections.

Article 3 applies, for the purposes of PCC elections, changes made to the Representation of the People (Combination of Polls) (England and Wales) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/294) by the Representation of the People (Combination of Polls) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/920). Articles 4, 6(2)(b), 7(b), 9, 10 and 47(b) make changes consequential on Part 1 of the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 (c.6) (individual electoral registration in Great Britain).

Articles 5, 6(2)(a), 7(a) and 47(a) make changes consequential on Part 2 of the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 (administration and conduct of elections).

Article 6(1) makes a change consequential on the Electoral Registration (Postponement of 2013 Annual Canvass) Order 2013 (S.I. 2013/794).

Articles 8, 34 and 35 enable a community support officer to enter a polling station or a count venue on the same terms as a constable and enable a community a support officer who is employed on the day of the poll for a purpose connected with the election to vote at any polling station within the relevant voting area.

Articles 11, 12 and 13(1) to (5) allow an elector to apply for a proxy voting arrangement after 5 p.m. on the sixth day before the date of the poll (an emergency proxy vote) on grounds relating to occupation, service or employment. They also make changes to the deadlines for other absent voting applications to make them consistent with the deadlines for equivalent applications made for the purposes of other elections. Article 14(2) makes a consequential change.

Articles 17, 30, 33 and 38, and Schedules 1 and 2, replace and amend various forms and notices used at PCC elections.

Article 18 provides that postal ballot papers must be sent out as soon as it is practicable to do so. Articles 13(6), 14(1), 19, 25(b), 27(b) and 28(2)(a) make consequential provision and provision for how an application to change an absent voting arrangement will be dealt with when a postal vote has already been sent out.

Articles 21, 22, 23 and 24 require a local returning officer to check the personal identifiers (date of birth and signature) on every returned postal voting statement against the corresponding identifiers held on file. Articles 15, 16, 20, 25(a), 27(a), 37(1) make consequential changes.

Articles 26(2) and 29 require a registration officer to notify a postal voter that the vote has been rejected because the personal identifiers on the postal voting statement could not be verified, and gives the registration officer a power to request that a voter provide a fresh signature. Articles 28(2)(b) and (c), 28(3) and 48 make consequential changes.

Article 31 amends the timetable for PCC elections to bring forward the deadline for withdrawing candidature and for publishing the statement of persons nominated. Article 32 removes a redundant provision about the timetable for PCC elections in 2012.

Articles 36 and 37(2) allow a voter to vote (and allow a person to return a postal vote) if he or she is in a polling station or in a queue outside a polling station at 10 p.m. on polling day for the purpose of voting (or for the purpose of returning the postal vote).

Articles 39 to 46 make consequential amendments to Schedule 4 to the 2012 Order (combination of polls).

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument because no impact, or no significant impact, on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen, other than that set out in the impact assessments for the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013.