Commentary Schedule 1: Further provision about voting in the referendum Part 2: Registration
48.Part 2 of schedule 1 sets out the consequences of being registered to vote and the functions of registration officers.
49.Paragraph 14 prevents anyone who is registered in the electoral register (or who is on the list of proxies) from not being allowed to vote in the referendum on the grounds that they are ineligible to vote. However, if they are found later to be ineligible to vote, their vote can be rejected and they may be subject to pay a penalty for a voting offence. The effect of this is that if the person has an entry in the electoral register or on the list of proxies, the person is to be treated as being entitled to vote.
50.Paragraph 15 prevents any minor error, such as a spelling error, in the electoral register or any of the other relevant documents used in relation to voting in the referendum from hindering the use of that document.
51.Paragraph 16 requires registration officers to carry out their functions in accordance with any directions given by the CCO, which must in turn be in accordance with this Act and all other legislation which currently applies to registration officers (mostly they are regulated under the Representation of the People Act 1983, particularly as amended by the Representation of the People Act 2000). The CCO must consult the Electoral Commission before giving a direction to a registration officer. A local council may approve one or more deputy registration officers to carry out a registration officer’s duties and in that event the provisions of this Act apply to the deputy registration officer. Sub-paragraph (5) also requires councils to provide staff to a registration officer to enable the officer to fulfil their functions under this Act.
52.Under the provisions of paragraph 17, any alteration that is to be made to the electoral register within five days of the date of the referendum will have no effect in the referendum. Sub-paragraph (3) applies section 13B(2) to (6) of the Representation of the People Act 1983 to the referendum. The effect is that where an alteration is to take effect at least five days before the referendum but under the normal rules about alterations the notification would not be issued by that date, the registration officer must issue a notice of the alteration which takes effect on the day on which it is issued. This allows alterations to be made quickly so that counting officers are aware of every person who is entitled to vote.
53.Sub-paragraph (4) requires the electoral registration officer to provide two interim updates to the electoral register in the form of notices specifying the appropriate alterations in the register. Section 13B of the Representation of the People Act 1983 provides that in addition to the monthly alterations to the electoral register published under section 13A of that Act, where a poll is pending there is to be a further notice of alteration to the register published on the fifth or sixth day before the poll (the day being at the discretion of the registration officer). This ensures that there is a final update to the register which can be used for the poll.
54.However, there may be a significant period between the previous monthly notice of alteration and the final register. Postal ballots can only be sent to electors on the register, and therefore cannot be issued until an elector appears on the register or an alteration to it. Without interim publication dates newly registered voters could not be sent postal ballots until less than 5 days before the election. Sub-paragraph (4) requires that there should be two interim notices of alteration provided before the fifth day before the date of the referendum, the exact timing of which will be at the discretion of the registration officer following consultation with the counting officer. The additional notices of alteration will enable more postal ballot papers to be issued earlier.
55.Sub-paragraph (5) provides that Scottish Ministers may make regulations to modify sub-paragraphs (1), (3)(a) or (4)(d). This has the effect of allowing the deadline for registration for the poll to be moved. As set out in sub-paragraphs (6) and (7), the Scottish Ministers must consult the Electoral Commission before making these regulations, and the regulations are subject to the negative procedure.
56.Paragraph 18 defines the cut-off date as 5pm on the sixth day before the date of the referendum for applications for proxies under paragraphs 3(2) and 5(9), and 5pm on the eleventh day before the date of the referendum for all other cases in determining when certain things must be done for a voter to vote. Sub-paragraph (b) sets out the days that are not to be counted in working out the cut-off date: these include weekends, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Easter Monday and bank holidays in Scotland, and days of public thanksgiving and mourning.