Home > 1.3 Free suffrage > UNITED KINGDOM - Opinion on the Electoral Law
 
 
 
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Paragraph 38
 
38.  The manner of applying for postal voting in parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom is ruled by Section 12 and Schedule 4 of the Representation of the People Act 2000,[14] as amended in 2006. The main change in the postal voting system was the collection of personal identifiers (signature and date of birth) for the application of postal voting. In general, both in the cases of absent voting at elections for a definite or an indefinite period and absent voting for a particular election, the registration officer shall grant the application to vote by post if (a) he/she is satisfied that the applicant is or will be registered in the register of parliamentary electors, local government electors or both (as the case may be), and (b) the application contains the applicant’s signature and date of birth and meets the prescribed requirements (Sch. 4, para. 3(1), 4(1)). The registration officer shall keep a postal voters’ list of those whose application to vote by post at the election has been granted, together with the addresses provided by them in their applications as the addresses to which their ballot papers are to be sent (Sch. 4, para. 5(1)).