7.Section 4 is designed to enable those who are in mental hospitals, whether as detained or voluntary patients (other than those who are barred from voting by the provisions inserted by section 2), to register. The requirement for voluntary patients to make a patient's declaration is removed.
8.The section replaces the existing section 7 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 with a new section 7 which has the result that a person who is resident in a mental hospital can register in respect of the hospital if the period he is likely to spend there is sufficient for him to be regarded as resident (see section 3 above). Such registrations will last for a maximum of 12 months.
9.A person to whom new section 7 applies may alternatively register at some other address (which is likely to be the address where he would be living but for the fact of being in a mental hospital) or by means of a declaration of local connection (see section 6 below).
Commentary on Sections Section 4: Residence: Mental Patients who are not Detained Offenders