Commentary on Sections Access to election documents Section 42 Access to other election documents
255.This section provides for access to election documents for elections other than parliamentary elections in a similar way to that provided for parliamentary elections. It also gives the Secretary of State a power to make regulations to impose conditions on that access and to charge for it. It also makes it a criminal offence not to comply with the regulations and prescribes the maximum penalty for conviction.
256.Subsection (1) imposes requirements on EROs who hold documents for elections other than parliamentary elections and local government elections in Scotland and Northern Ireland to make them available for public inspection. The conditional duty to supply copies or extracts on request is cast in similar terms to those for parliamentary elections. Subsection (2) identifies who can request copies of the register and the list of proxies marked to show who has been issued with a ballot paper in a polling station, and the marked lists of postal and postal proxy voters who returned their ballot papers.
257.Subsections (3) to (10) contain regulation-making powers and define what regulations may or may not provide.
258.The Secretary of State can impose conditions restricting the inspection or supply of the documents (subsection (3)) and the purposes for which such documents may be used (subsection (5)).
259.Subsection (4) provides for the form in which the documents supplied are to be specified and for fees to be charged.
260.Subsection (5) allows regulations to be made to permit or prohibit copies of the documents to be taken and to specify the manner in which they may be taken.
261.Subsection (6) allows regulations to impose conditions on the further supply, disclosure, or use of the information contained in the documents.
262.Subsection (7) allows regulations to apply those conditions to people who have not been directly supplied with the documents.
263.Subsection (9) requires the Secretary of State to consult the Electoral Commission when making regulations under this section.
264.Subsection (10) specifies that such regulations must be laid before, and are subject to the approval by resolution of, each House of Parliament.
265.Section 43 Access to other election documents: contravention of regulations
266.This section creates an offence of contravening regulations governing access to post-election documentation. This offence will apply as regards documentation relating to elections other than parliamentary elections. The maximum penalty for those found guilty on summary conviction is a fine of £5,000. For parliamentary elections, a similarly worded offence is created by section 41 as a new section 66B of the 1983 Act.