Government adjusts timing of changes to postal vote handling rules

The Government has deferred changes to the rules on handling postal votes after protests from the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) that it would be impossible to deliver both photographic voter identification and changes to the postal vote handling rules for polls in May 2023.

Changes include requiring postal vote entitlements to be renewed every three years and a ban on political campaigners handling in postal votes.

Paul Scully, the minister then responsible, said in a letter to William Wragg, chair of the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee that elections “are a no-fail public service, and our priority is ensuring that the sector can continue to deliver elections robustly and securely as they implement these changes”.

He added: “A consequent decision has been taken to adjust the timing of changes to postal vote handling rules to later in 2023, to minimise the number of additional reforms for May 2023 while continuing to maintain our principle of sequenced implementation.

“The Government remains committed to implementing all of the measures in the Elections Act, including the changes for overseas electors, and officials continue to work to deliver the secondary legislation for all of the measures.”

Mr Scully said the implementation of voter identification for the May 2023 polls would go ahead, “allowing the sector to turn their focus to further changes due to be implemented later in 2023 and ahead of elections scheduled for 2024”.

He told Mr Wragg the Government was making “excellent progress with the drafting and making of secondary legislation, and a digital project is underway to develop and provide new digital services to make these changes accessible for electors and ensure quick administration for the sector.”.

Voter identification statutory instruments were now expected to be made by mid-January 2023, to reflect “the need for complex policy and legal drafting, ensuring adequate testing of the digital solutions, and continued engagement and preparation with the electoral sector to ensure they are ready for implementation as they move into the more intense process of preparations for polling day around the start of the year”.

Mr Scully said the Government was running a digital project “to explore the most appropriate application system for electoral identity documents, and for their processing, determination and delivery to electors who need them”.

The electoral identity document - to be used by those who lack other forms of identification - will be an A4 paper document, “with inherent security features”, which voters may apply for until 5pm, six working days ahead of a poll.

Mark Smulian