Electoral Administration Bill

I cannot see how this principle can be anything other than sensible—a postal voter should be able to vote in a ballot box or at a polling station on the day—but I query whether the amendment is necessary. If you have a postal vote, you have the address to which you have to return it—normally the returning officer at the town hall. I accept that perhaps, say, five constituencies may be covered by the same returning officer and that it might not be convenient for the voter to go to the central town hall covering the city and the five constituencies—perhaps there is merit in considering whether five permanent polling stations should be opened for the return of ballot papers for each of the constituencies—but I do not think that is the great issue. The more important issue concerns voting, in private, on polling day through the ballot box in the polling station—but, of course, the existing rules permit you to do that. Indeed, we have had debates between all the parties, the Electoral Commission and the returning officers about the process for doing so. We all feel quite strongly that only in exceptional circumstances should party workers ever handle a postal vote. But we all know from our experience on polling day that you can call on someone who says, ““I have voted. I have filled in my postal vote but I cannot get out to post it””. What do you do? You either let that vote go to waste or, when they say ““Could you get it there for me?””, you know you can take it to the polling station on polling day and hand it in—without, of course, having interfered with it in any way—and then the vote counts. So, given the current regulations, I wonder whether the amendment is absolutely necessary.