I have a standing request for a postal vote in all elections (mainly so I can help out elsewhere if needed on the day.) This is really simple to organise in the UK as you just tick a box when registering to vote or apply via the internet if you plan to be away on a day.
NOTE THE LAST DAY TO REGISTER TO VOTE OR REQUEST A POSTAL BALLOT FOR THE UK GENERAL ELECTION ON DECEMBER 12 IS NOVEMBER 26 IN BRITAIN. (The deadlines for these in Northern Ireland has already passed.)
I thought US readers may be interested in the process so I have done a sort of “how to” using my own ballot paper. Note however that there are a number of security aspects which identify a particular number ballot paper to the voter which I have edited out of my pictures.
The local council organising the vote (in my case the London Borough of Lewisham) sends you a pack as soon as the ballot papers have been printed. In it are:
- Instructions on voting and returning the paper.
- The ballot (voting) paper.
- “Envelope A”. This is for the ballot paper and has attached a declaration that the ballot paper is your’s.
- “Envelope B”. This is to return the ballot paper in envelope “A” to the returning officer, the election official in charge of the voting.
The Ballot Paper.
I suppose the notable differences from US ballot papers is firstly that it is only for a single post, there are none of the “down ballot” candidates for elected positions as in the USA. On the reverse of the ballot paper is an identifying number which is recorded as issued to the individual voter. (It takes a court order to co-relate these after which rarely happens unless electoral fraud is investigated. Ballot papers are held for a year after the election in the Parliamentary Records in the Victoria Tower at Parliament and then destroyed unless a challenge is made.)
The second is that registered parties can have their logo printed beside the name and address of their candidate. Parties are allowed up to six words in their description. Quite often the Conservatives will use their full title of “The Conservative and Unionist Party Candidate”
I had the dubious priviledge of once standing in a local council election against Commander Bill Boaks, a former RAF officer who stood at virtually every parliamentary by-election as the “Air, Road Safery White Resident Candidate”. Not mentioned in the Wiki article is that he could regularly be seen riding his bike around Wimbledon which he had converted into a mobile billboard. That part of his road safety campaigning came to a rather unfortunate end when the police declared his bike/billboard a safety hazard
Envelope A
As well as being an envelope to contain the ballot paper, the first envelope also has the statutory declaration that you are the person to who the ballot paper was issued, together with an almost Trump-sized box to sign to that effect. The local returning officer has your original on one or other of the registration that you have made in the distant past to compare if fraud or personation is suspected.
I say in the distant past as nowadays registration is renewed electronically either via the internet or by text message. As you will see, there are a number of places in which have either the voting paper number or your details, including your reference number on the electoral register. (I am not sure what happens to a voter who was born after 1/1/2000!)
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II have blocked out any areas that would identify the paper to me for the purposes of this diary. The envelope is on the back of this declaration and the top half folds down to form the flap of the envelope, sealed using the self-adhesive strip. The protection for this is the red printed area shown in the picture.
One sealed, this goes into the second envelope, with pre-paid postage, addressed to the local electoral office.
You can however deliver this by hand to the office up to the close of voting at 10 pm on election day or hand it in to the staff at the voting place.
You may notice in my main picture that there is a small window in the bottom left of envelope B showing “LD” from envelope A. That’s there so our returning officer can sort “Lewisham Deptford” votes from those in the other constituencies in the borough.