Background
5.Ordinary local government elections, originally due to take place in May 2004, have been moved, by virtue of an order made under the Local Government Act 2003, to the same date as the European Parliamentary general election to be held in June 2004. This means that these local government elections and European elections are automatically combined.
6.Under section 10 of the Representation of the People Act 2000, local authorities in England and Wales are able to submit a proposal to the Secretary of State to run pilot schemes of innovative electoral procedures at local government elections. Section 10 was couched in broad terms to cover various innovative voting methods, and pilot schemes have been held both for all-postal and “multi-channelled” voting (which includes electronic voting). Pilots are part of a programme working towards a multi-channelled, e-enabled general election some time after 2006.
7.Prior to the Act to which these notes refer, there was no legislative provision for the piloting of all-postal voting (or any other innovative voting method) in relation to European Parliamentary elections. The Act fills that gap, for the 2004 elections only, so that piloting of all-postal polling can take place.