The Absent Voters List
The Electoral Registration Officer also maintains a list of people who are entitled to vote by post or by proxy. This is known as the Absent Voters’ List. Postal voting is available to anyone, whatever their circumstances. Electors must provide “Personal Identifiers” (signature and date of birth) along with their application. Long-term proxy voting is available to people who cannot reasonably be expected to attend their polling station at elections because :
- they suffer from a physical incapacity, or
- their employment duties take them away from home, or
- their attendance on a course of study takes them away from home.
Temporary proxy voting is available to people who cannot reasonably be expected to attend their polling station at elections because they will be away from home temporarily (e.g. on holiday) on the date of the election. Proxy voters too must provide Personal Identifiers with their application but persons appointed as proxies only require Personal Identifiers if they wish to vote by post.
Personal Identifiers are kept securely and checked by the Returning Officer at the time of elections who compare the signature and date of birth provided with the postal voting security statement.
To enable accurate electronic capture of Personal Identifiers application forms are available only from the Electoral Registration Officer or from www.aboutmyvote.co.uk
