Commentary on Sections Section 5: Disabled voters
30.This section modifies, in relation to voters with disabilities, certain rules about voting procedure in Northern Ireland. It amends rule 39 of the parliamentary elections rules in Schedule 1 to the Representation of the People Act 1983, which was amended by the Elections (Northern Ireland) Act 1985 and later substituted by section 13(3) of the Representation of the People Act 2000.
31.Subsection (3) inserts rule 39(2A). A voter with disabilities who attends at a polling station with a companion to assist him, may satisfy the requirements regarding production of a specified document by producing any of the specified documents referred to in rule 37(1A) to (1G), albeit that the documents may be produced by, and the ballot paper may be delivered to, the hand of the companion rather than the voter himself. The modification made is to treat references in rule 37(1A) to (1G) to “delivering a ballot paper” as if they were references to “granting a voter’s application”.