Part 1: Administration and Conduct of Elections Postal and Proxy Voting Schedule 3: Restriction of period for which person can apply for postal vote
Paragraph 1 of Schedule 3 provides for Schedule 4 to the RPA 2000 (absent voting in Great Britain) to be amended in line with the amendments set out in the Schedule.
	Paragraph 2 amends paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 to the RPA 2000 which currently provides for applications for absent voting at elections to be made for a definite or indefinite period. The amendments amend sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 3, and insert a new sub-paragraph (1A), to provide that at UK Parliamentary elections or local government elections in England it will no longer be possible for a person to be able to apply for a postal vote for an indefinite period. Under the changes, a grant of an application to vote by post in relation to UK Parliamentary elections or local government elections in England may not exceed three years. The amendments provide that the postal vote of a person who has chosen to apply for a postal vote for the maximum period possible will run until the third 31 January following the date on which the application is granted. This will ensure that these postal vote applications will cease on 31 January in the year in question, which will give the elector time to apply for a fresh postal vote ahead of any scheduled elections for May in that year, if the elector wishes to continue to vote by post. The amendments also allow a person to apply for a postal vote for a shorter period than the period ending with the third 31 January following the date on which the application is granted.
	New sub-paragraph (1B) provides that the provisions in sub-paragraph (1A) do not apply to a postal voter who is registered to vote at parliamentary elections in pursuance of an overseas elector’s declaration. Instead, any grant of a postal vote application by an overseas elector will run until the period ending with the 1 November during which the person is entitled to remain registered to vote as an overseas elector (which may not exceed 3 years) in accordance with new section 1D(1)(a) or (3)(a) of the RPA 1985. An overseas elector may apply to vote by post for a shorter period if they wish.
	The amendments make consequential changes to sub-paragraphs (4) and (5) of paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 concerning the record of absent voters and the removal from that record to reflect that there is a now a limit on the period for which a person may hold a postal vote at UK Parliamentary elections and local government elections in England.
	The amendments make a consequential change to sub-paragraph (7) of paragraph 3 of Schedule 4, and insert a new sub-paragraph (7A), to reflect that a proxy voter who wishes to vote by post instead may apply for a postal vote for a period not exceeding 3 years. New sub-paragraph (7B) provides that the provisions in sub-paragraph (1B) apply where an overseas elector who is a proxy makes an application to vote by post. The amendments preserve the existing position that a person may apply to vote by post for an indefinite period or for a particular period at local government elections in Scotland or Wales.
	Paragraph 3 amends paragraph 7 of Schedule 4 to the RPA 2000 which concerns persons voting as a proxy on behalf of another elector at an election. The amendments make equivalent changes in relation to these persons to those made by paragraph 2 of the Schedule. Under the changes, a grant of an application to vote by post by a proxy voter in relation to UK Parliamentary elections or local government elections in England may not exceed three years. The amendments preserve the existing position that a person appointed as proxy for another elector may apply to vote by post for an indefinite period or for a particular period at local government elections in Scotland or Wales.
	Paragraph 4 makes transitional provision in relation to existing postal voters at the time the limit on the maximum period for which a person can apply for a postal vote comes into force. The paragraph provides that the transitional arrangements will apply to postal voters who, immediately before the day to be specified in regulations by the Secretary of State ("the specified day"), have a postal vote for an indefinite period or for a particular period that would expire after the end of three years beginning with the specified day. Under paragraph 4, these persons will continue to be able to vote by post until either the third 31 January following the specified day or, if this is sooner, "the signature refresh date". The signature refresh date is the date by which the registration officer would ordinarily be required to send a notice to the postal voter requiring them to provide a fresh signature (under the existing signature refresh provisions, this notice must be sent by 31 January in any year if a person’s signature on record is more than five years old). The notice that is ordinarily required to be sent will not be so required if the person’s only entitlement to vote as an absent voter is a postal vote that will expire on the signature refresh date under these transitional provisions. The registration officer must send to a postal voter before the end of the period for which they have a postal vote a notice informing the person of the date on which their postal vote entitlement is to end, and information about how to make a fresh application to vote by post.
	The transitional arrangements provide that the new limit on the period for which a person may apply for a postal vote is phased in for existing long-term postal voters. They provide that these persons will cease to have a postal vote on the 31 January in the year in question, which will give them time to make a fresh postal vote application ahead of any scheduled elections for May in that year, if they wish to continue to vote by post.
	The transitional arrangements in this paragraph do not apply in relation to a person who is registered to vote in parliamentary elections in pursuance of an overseas elector’s declaration made at any time before the day on which section 12 comes into force (see instead Part 2 of Schedule 7).