Commentary on Sections Part 2: Administration and Conduct of Elections etc Section 22: Notification of rejected postal vote
77.Section 22 amends Schedule 4 to the Representation of the People Act 2000 (which includes provisions for the conduct of absent voting in Great Britain) by inserting a power to specify in regulations the circumstances in which, following close of poll, an electoral registration officer must notify a person that their postal ballot paper had been rejected. It specifies that this power covers proxy voters and the electors on whose behalf they are voting, where the proxy chooses to vote by post. Sub-paragraph (2) of the new paragraph specifies that the duty only applies where a postal voting statement has been returned but has not been duly completed. Sub-paragraph (3) specifies that regulations made under the power may make provision about the information communicated to the elector, the time within which the notification must be given (after a poll) and the way in which the information is communicated. The power to make regulations applies to Parliamentary and local government elections in Great Britain.