Carlisle City Council Elections
‘Postal voters’ urged to sign up
(Date of issue: Tuesday, 17 January 2012)
Around 5,000 voters who have arranged to vote by post will soon
be receiving a letter from Carlisle City Council asking them to
provide a fresh signature, or lose their chance to vote using a
postal vote in this May’s City Council Elections.
Under the Representation of the People (England and Wales)
Regulations 2001, Electoral Registration Officers must, by 31
January each year, send every person who remains an absent voter
and whose signature held on the personal identifiers record is more
than five years old, a notice requiring them to provide a fresh
signature if they wish to remain an absent voter.
There are currently around 5,000 postal voters on the City
Council’s electoral register whose signature will be over five
years old and will need to be refreshed at the end of this
January.
Arrangements are being made to send a letter to each of these
postal voters asking them to supply a new specimen of their
signature. The letter will explain that if this new signature is
not received within six weeks of the date of the notice their
absent vote facility will be cancelled. If an absent voter who has
been sent a notice has not responded within three weeks the Council
is required to send a reminder notice so voters are being urged to
respond as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary expense
Where a notice or reminder notice has not been responded to
within six weeks of the original notice the council is required to
remove the absent vote facility from their records the following
day i.e. 13 March 2012. In these circumstances the council will
write to the voter to inform them that their postal vote has been
removed and that they must attend a polling station to cast their
vote or alternatively make a fresh application for an absent
vote.
If the voter responds after the deadline of six weeks the form
must be rejected and a new application form sent to the relevant
voter. A similar refresh exercise will take place in January 2013
and will cover those absent voters whose signatures will become
more than five years old between 31 January 2012 and 30 January
2013.
If you would like any more information, please contact Carlisle
City Council on 01228 817555 or 01228 817556.