APPENDIX 1
Memorandum by the Home Office
F. POLLING STATION ISSUES
Parliamentary polling districts and polling places
6.1 Section 18(1) of the 1983 Act requires that
every constituency is divided into polling districts and that
a polling place should be designated for each polling district.
6.2 In England it is the duty of the council
of each district or London borough and in Wales it is the duty
of each county or county borough council to divide their area
into polling districts for the purpose of parliamentary elections
for so much of any constituency as is situated in their area and
to keep those districts under review in accordance with the rules
described in section 18(2) of the 1983 Act, as amended by Schedule
16 to the 1994 Act. It is also their duty to designate polling
places for those polling districts and to keep those under review.
Similar provisions apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
6.3 The polling place for any polling district
must, except in special circumstances, be an area in that district
and must be small enough to indicate to electors how to reach
the polling station; but a polling place need not be designated
for a district, if the size and other circumstances of the district
are such that the situation of the polling station does not materially
affect the convenience of the electors or any body of them (section
18(2)(c) and (d)).
6.4 If no polling place is designated for a polling
district, the polling district is treated as a polling place (section
18(4)). Each parish in England and each community in Wales must
in the absence of special circumstances be a separate polling
district or districts (section 18(2)(b), as amended by paragraph
4(1)(b) of Schedule 4 to the 1985 Act).
6.5 Councils must exercise their powers in respect
of parliamentary polling districts and polling places with a view
to giving all electors in so much of the constituency as falls
within their area such reasonable facilities for voting as are
practicable in the circumstances (section 18(2)(a) of the 1983
Act).
6.6 The council in England and Wales is required,
so far as is reasonable and practicable, to designate as polling
places only places which are accessible to electors who are disabled
(section 18(2) (a), as amended by paragraph 4(1) (a) of Schedule
4 to the Act of 1985). Accordingly, a council should not designate
as a polling place a building if the only means of access to any
polling station situated in it would be by means of steps, or
access to the polling station within the polling place would otherwise
be impossible for a disabled elector, when another more suitable
building is available in the polling district.
6.7 However, a building would not be a more suitable
polling place if it is so far removed from most of the electors
in the polling district as to be inconvenient for them to reach
it.
Polling districts and polling places at local government
elections
6.8 For elections of county councillors in England
the county council may divide an electoral division into polling
districts and may alter any polling district; similarly a district
council or London borough council may, for the purposes of elections
to such a council, divide the district or London borough or any
ward of the districts or London borough into polling districts
and may alter any polling district (section 31(1) of the 1983
Act).
6.9 For elections of county or county borough
councillors in Wales, the county or county borough council may
divide an electoral division into polling districts and may alter
any polling district (section 31(1A) of the 1983 Act, as inserted
by Schedule 16 to the 1994 Act).
6.10 Any power to constitute polling districts
for the purpose of local government elections must be exercised
so that the electors from any parliamentary polling district wholly
or partly within the electoral division or ward (as the case may
be) can, in the absence of special circumstances, be allotted
to a polling station within the parliamentary polling place for
that district unless that place is outside the electoral division
or as the case may be, ward (section 31(3) of the 1983 Act).
European Parliamentary polling districts and polling
places
6.11 Every European Parliamentary constituency
is to be divided into polling districts and there should be a
polling place for each polling district (section 18(1) of the
1983 Act, as applied by the European Regulations). The polling
districts and polling places designated under section 18, as so
applied, are to be the same as those designated for parliamentary
elections, except where it appears to those responsible for such
designation that special circumstances make it desirable for some
other polling district or polling place to be specified.
Provision of polling stations
6.12 A polling station is not defined in legislation,
but a generally accepted interpretation is that it is, at the
minimum, the area surrounding the ballot box, table and chairs
used by the Presiding Officer, any poll clerk(s), and the polling
booths.
6.13 The returning officer must provide a sufficient
number of polling stations and allot the electors to the polling
stations in such manner as he thinks most convenient (rule 25(1)
of the Parliamentary Elections Rules, including that rule as applied
by the European Regulations; rule 20(1) of the Principal Areas
elections rules and of the Parishes and Communities elections
rules).
6.14 At a parliamentary or European Parliamentary
election, the polling station allotted to electors from any parliamentary
polling district must be in the parliamentary polling place for
that district (rule 25(3) of the parliamentary elections rules,
including that rule as applied by the European Regulations).
6.15 At a local government election, the polling
station allotted to any electors from any parliamentary polling
district wholly or partly within the electoral area must, in the
absence of special circumstances, be in the parliamentary polling
place for that district, unless that place is outside the electoral
area (rule 20(3) of each set of local elections rules).
6.16 One or more polling stations may be provided
in the same room (rule 25(2) of the parliamentary, elections rules,
including that rule as applied by the European Regulations; rule
20(2) of both sets of local elections rules). But if so, the lay-out
of the station ought to be such as to prevent voters having to
pass through part of another polling station.
6.17 Polling stations are most often located
in schools, council premises, halls and other public service or
private sector community venues. Returning officers at an election
are entitled to the use of rooms in premises, including grant
maintained schools, free of charge where the rooms are maintained
out of any public rate (rule 22 of the parliamentary rules, rule
17 of the local election rules).
6.18 The effect of the requirement to allot voters
to a specified polling station is that they may not cast a vote
other than in that polling station unless an absent vote application
has been previously approved.
Issues commonly raised
That electors should be able to vote at any
polling station in the constituency or electoral area
6.19 Allocated polling station voting (sometimes
known as "precinct voting") provides the facility for
the presiding officer and the candidates' polling agents easily
to monitor double voting or personation. Where non-allocated voting
is permitted in other jurisdictions, this is either accompanied
by comprehensive arrangements for checking of the marked registers
or at the risk of increased electoral abuse. On-line and standardised
data format registers would assist in the reducing the risks of
electoral abuse from non-allocated voting but are not in place
in the United Kingdom. Primary legislation would be necessary.
That the use of school premises as polling
stations should be phased out
6.20 Schools continue to provide the most suitable
locations in many polling districts because of their central location
and easy access. They are often adapted for access by disabled
persons. The use of school rooms has however decreased in recent
years as pressures have grown on educational timetables and in
the light of incidents such as the Dunblane and Philip Lawrence
murders. Returning officers at elections are advised to consult
closely with the Local Education Authority or Board of School
Governors as appropriate on proposals to use a school room as
a polling station.
That polling stations should be located in
more accessible locations, such as supermarkets
6.21 There is no present bar to a council designating
a supermarket as a polling place, providing that the designation
meets the requirements set out above. Shoppers would however only
be able to vote at a polling station in the supermarket if they
are registered as electors within the polling district for which
the supermarket is a polling place. The London borough of Croydon
is to establish polling stations in two Tesco supermarkets (at
Thornton Heath and Purley) for the 7 May London borough elections
and referendum. The results of the experiment will be closely
monitored and assessed.
That "mobile polling stations" should
be introduced
6.22 "Mobile" polling stations allow
the ballot box, ballot paper and register to be taken by elections
staff to the voter, instead of requiring the voter to be allocated
to, and visit, the polling station. Where this facility is provided
in other countries, it is normally limited to pre-determined voters
located at old peoples homes, convalescent homes and hospitals,
and, where they are entitled to vote, to detained prisoners in
prisons. Mobile polling stations may either circulate on or prior
to polling day.
6.23 Any proposal would need to have regard to
issues of the security and secrecy of the ballot, control of electoral
abuse, and facilities for candidates to exercise their statutory
right to observe proceedings. Primary legislation would be necessary
for the introduction of mobile polling stations.
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