London Borough Council Elections Rules 1968
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1968/497 |
| Year | 1968 |
1968 No. 497
LONDON GOVERNMENT
The London Borough Council Elections Rules 196825thMarch 1968
3rdApril 1968
9thMay 1968
In pursuance of the powers conferred upon me by paragraph 13 of Schedule 3 to the London Government Act 1963(a), I hereby make the following Rules:—
1. In the application of the local elections rules contained in Schedule 2 to the Representation of the People Act 1949(b) to an election of London borough councillors, adaptations, alterations and exceptions shall be made therein so that the said local elections rules shall read as set out in the Schedule hereto.
2. Rule 1 of and Schedule 1 to the London Borough Council and Greater London Council Elections Rules 1963(c) and Rule 1 of the London Borough Council and Greater London Council Elections Rules 1964(d) are hereby revoked.
3.—(1) These Rules may be cited as the London Borough Council Elections Rules 1968 and shall come into operation on 9th May 1968:
Provided that for the purpose of all proceedings preliminary or relating to an election to be held on or after that day these Rules shall come into operation forthwith.
(2) The Interpretation Act 1889(e) shall apply to the interpretation of these Rules as it applies to the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.
James Callaghan, One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State.
Home Office, Whitehall.
25th March 1968.
(a) 1963 c. 33.
(b) 1949 c. 68.
(c) S.I. 1963/1864 (1963 III, p. 3455).
(d) S.I. 1964/454 (1964 I, p. 725).
(e) 1889 c. 63.
SCHEDULE
LOCAL ELECTIONS RULES
Arrangement of rules
PART I
PROVISIONS AS TO TIME
Rule
1. Timetable
2. Computation of time.
3. Hours of poll.
PART II
STAGES COMMON TO CONTESTED AND UNCONTESTED ELECTIONS
4. Notice of election.
5. Nomination of candidates.
6. Subscription of nomination paper.
7. Consent to nomination.
8. Place for delivery of nomination papers.
9. Decisions as to validity of nomination papers.
10. Publication of nominations.
11. Withdrawal of candidates.
12. Nomination in more than one ward.
13. Method of election.
PART III
CONTESTED ELECTIONS
General provisions
14. Poll to be taken by ballot.
15. The ballot papers.
16. The official mark.
17. Prohibition of disclosure of vote.
18. Use of schools and public rooms.
Action to be taken before the poll
19. Notice of poll.
20. Death of candidate.
21. Postal ballot papers.
22. Provision of polling stations.
23. Appointment of presiding officers and clerks.
24. Special lists.
25. Equipment of polling stations.
26. Appointment of polling and counting agents.
27. Declaration of secrecy.
The poll
Rule
28. Admission to polling station.
29. Keeping of order in station.
30. Sealing of ballot boxes.
31. Questions to be put to voters.
32. Challenge of voter.
33. Voting procedure.
34. Votes marked by presiding officer.
35. Voting by blind persons.
36. Tendered ballot papers.
37. Spoilt ballot papers.
38. Adjournment of poll in case of riot.
39. Procedure on close of poll.
Counting of votes
40. Attendance at counting of votes.
41. The count.
42. Re-count.
43. Rejected ballot papers.
44. Decisions on ballot papers.
45. Equality of votes.
PART IV
FINAL PROCEEDINGS IN CONTESTED AND UNCONTESTED ELECTIONS
46. Declaration or result.
PART V
DISPOSAL OF DOCUMENTS
47. Verification of ballot paper account.
48. Marking of packets.
49. Orders for production of documents.
50. Retention and public inspection of documents.
51. Supplemental provisions as to documents.
PART VI
SUPPLEMENTAL
52. General duty of returning officer.
PART I
PROVISIONS AS TO TIME
Timetable
1. The proceedings at the election shall be conducted in accordance with the following Table.
TIMETABLE
Proceeding Time
Publication of notice of election … Not later than the twentieth day
before the day of election
Delivery of nomination papers … Not later than noon on the fourteenth
day before the day of election
Despatch of notice of decisions on
nominations and publication of
statement as to persons nominated Not later than noon on the thirteenth
day before the day of election
Delivery of notices of withdrawals of
candidature … … … Not later than noon on the twelfth day
before the day of election
Notice of poll … … … Not later than the fifth day before
the day of election
Notice of appointment of polling or
counting agents … … … Not later than the third day before
the day of election.
Polling … … … … On the day of election.
Computation of time
2. In computing any period of time for the purposes of the Timetable, a Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday, bank holiday or day appointed for public thanksgiving or mourning and the Saturday before and the Tuesday after Easter Day or Whit Sunday shall be disregarded and any such day shall not be treated as a day for the purpose of any proceedings up to the completion of the poll nor shall the returning officer be obliged to proceed with the counting of the votes thereon:
Provided that where under Part III of these rules a person ought to proceed with the preparation of special lists or the issue of postal ballot papers on the said Saturday before or Tuesday after Easter Day or Whit Sunday, nothing in this rule shall absolve him from that duty.
Hours of poll
3. The poll shall commence at eight o'clock in the morning and be kept open till nine o'clock in the evening of the same day and no longer.
PART II
STAGES COMMON TO CONTESTED AND UNCONTESTED ELECTIONS
Notice of election
4.—(1) Notice of the election in the prescribed form shall be prepared, signed and published by the returning officer.
(2) The notice shall be published by causing it to be affixed to the town hall and to be exhibited at such places in the ward as the returning officer may determine.
Nomination of candidates
5.—(1) Each candidate shall be nominated by a separate nomination paper in the prescribed form, delivered at the place fixed for the purpose.
(2) The nomination paper shall state the full names, place of residence and description of the candidate and the surname shall be placed first in the list of his names.
(3) The description shall not refer to the candidate's political activities, and need not refer to his rank, profession or calling so long as, with the other particulars of the candidate, it is sufficient to identify him.
(4) If the description is unduly long, the returning officer after consultation (if possible) with the candidate or his election agent, proposer or seconder, may shorten it or substitute another.
Subscription of nomination paper
6.—(1) The nomination paper shall be subscribed by two electors for the ward as proposer and seconder, and by eight other electors for the ward as assenting to the nomination.
(2) Where a nomination paper bears the signatures of more than the required number of persons as proposing, seconding or assenting to the nomination of a candidate, the signature or signatures (up to the required number) appearing first on the paper in each category shall be taken into account to the exclusion of any others in that category.
(3) The returning officer shall provide nomination papers and shall supply any elector for the ward with as many nomination papers as may be required and shall, at the request of any such elector, prepare for signature a nomination paper.
(4) No person shall—
(a) subscribe more nomination papers than there are vacancies to be filled in the ward; or
(b) subscribe a nomination paper for more than one ward; or
(c) subscribe more than one nomination paper in respect of the same candidate:
Provided that a person shall not be prevented from subscribing a nomination paper by reason only of his having subscribed that of a candidate who has died or withdrawn before delivery of the first-mentioned paper.
(5) If any person subscribes nomination papers in contravention of the last foregoing paragraph, his signature shall be inoperative in all but those papers (up to the permitted number) which are first delivered.
(6) In this rule, the expression "elector for the ward" means a person who is registered as a local government elector for the ward in the register to be used at the election or who, pending the publication of that register, appears from the electors lists therefor as corrected by the registration officer to be entitled to be so registered:
Provided that, in relation to an election at which the date fixed for the poll falls within the period beginning with 16th February in any year and ending with 1st October in that year, the said expression shall not include a person who, by virtue of section 2(1) of the Electoral Registers Act 1949(a) as amended by section 1(2) of the Electoral Registers Act 1953(b)(which relates to persons coming of age during the currency of the register), is registered as a local government elector for the ward in the register to be used at that election or who, by virtue of that subsection, appears from the electors lists for that register to be entitled to be so registered.
Consent to nomination
7.—(1) A person shall not be validly nominated unless his consent to nomination, given in writing on or within one month before the day fixed as the last day for the delivery of nomination papers and attested by one witness, is delivered at the place and within the time appointed for the delivery of nomination papers:
(a) 1949 c. 86.
(b) 2 & 3 Eliz. 2. c. 8.
Provided that in the case of an election to fill a casual vacancy, if the returning officer is satisfied that owing to the absence of a person from the United Kingdom it has not been reasonably practicable for his consent in writing to be given as aforesaid, a telegram consenting to his nomination and purporting to have been sent by him shall be deemed, for the purpose of this rule, to be consent in writing given by him on the day on which it purports to have been sent, and attestation of his consent shall not be required.
(2) A candidate's consent given under this rule shall contain a statement that he is qualified as required by law to be elected to and hold the office in...
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