The Combined Authorities (Mayoral Elections) Order 2017

Equipment of polling stations

28.—(1) The returning officer must provide each presiding officer with such number of ballot boxes and ballot papers as in the returning officer’s opinion may be necessary.

(2) Every ballot box must be so constructed that the ballot papers can be put in it, but cannot be withdrawn from it, without the box being unlocked or, where the box has no lock, the seal being broken.

(3) The returning officer must provide each polling station with—

(a) materials to enable voters to mark the ballot papers,

(b) copies of the register of electors for the electoral area or such part of it as contains the names of the electors allotted to the station,

(c) the parts of any special lists prepared for the election corresponding to the register of electors for the electoral area or the part of it provided under sub-paragraph (b),

(d) a list consisting of that part of the list prepared under rule 19 which contains the numbers (but not the other unique identifying marks) corresponding to those on the ballot papers provided to the presiding officer of the polling station.

(4) The reference in paragraph (3)(b) to the copies of the register of electors includes a reference to copies of any notices issued under section 13B(3B) or (3D)(1) of the 1983 Act in respect of alterations to the register.

(5) The returning officer must also provide each polling station with—

(a) at least one large version of the ballot paper which must be displayed inside the polling station for the assistance of voters who are partially sighted,

(b) an enlarged hand-held sample copy of the ballot paper for the assistance of voters who are partially sighted which must be clearly marked as a specimen provided only for the guidance of voters, and

(c) a device of such description as is set out in paragraph (9) for enabling voters who are blind or partially sighted to vote without any need for assistance from the presiding officer or any companion (within the meaning of rule 39(1)).

(6) The combined authority returning officer must prepare and provide each returning officer with—

(a) a notice in the appropriate form in the Appendix giving directions for the guidance of voters in voting, which must be printed in conspicuous characters and exhibited inside and outside every polling station; and

(b) the following notice which must be exhibited in every compartment of every polling station—

*[Specify name of combined authority] COMBINED AUTHORITY MAYORAL ELECTION

*[Vote for ONLY ONE CANDIDATE by putting a cross [X] in the box next to your choice.]

*[Vote by putting a cross [X] in the box—

In column A next to your FIRST CHOICE candidate

In column B next to your SECOND CHOICE candidate

Your first and second choices should be different.]

PUT NO OTHER MARK ON THE BALLOT PAPER OR YOUR VOTE MAY NOT COUNT.

*Complete or omit as necessary.

(7) The combined authority returning officer may also provide copies of the notices mentioned in paragraph (6) in such other form described in section 199B(2) or (3) of the Representation of the People Act 1983(2) as the combined authority returning officer thinks appropriate and, if the returning officer agrees, these may also be exhibited inside and outside the polling station.

(8) Where the Electoral Commission publishes information about the supplementary vote system to be used at combined authority mayoral elections, the combined authority returning officer may provide each returning officer with a copy of that information for exhibition at a polling station.

(9) The device referred to in paragraph (5)(c) must—

(a) allow a ballot paper to be inserted into and removed from, or attached to and detached from, the device easily and without damage to the paper,

(b) hold the ballot paper firmly in place during use, and

(c) provide suitable means for the voter to—

(i) identify the spaces on the ballot paper on which to mark a vote, and

(ii) identify the candidate to which each such space refers, and

(iii) mark the vote on the space the voter has chosen.

(1)

1983 c. 2. Section 13B was inserted by the Representation of the People Act 2000 (c. 2), section 8 and Schedule 1; subsections (3B) and (3D) were inserted by the Electoral Administration Act 2000 (c. 22), section 11.

(2)

Section 199B was inserted by the Electoral Administration Act 2006 (c. 22), section 36.