Home > 1. The principles of Europe's electoral heritage > UNITED KINGDOM - Opinion on the Electoral Law
 
 
 
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Paragraph 39
 
39.  The rules for returning the ballot are in Schedule 1 of the Representation of the People Act 1983, particularly under rules 24, 31A and 45, also amended in 2006.  For the postal ballot to be valid, it must be returned with a postal voting statement that contains the signature of the elector and his/her date of birth. If the postal ballot is duly returned together with the postal voting statement, the returning officer shall mark the name of the person in the postal voters’ list. The returning officer must verify that the signature and date of birth match those in their record, at present for at least a minimum of 20% of returned postal voting statements.[15] Doubts may persist on whether checking a sample secures the accuracy of the totality of the votes.