Question

To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what guidance the Electoral Commission has issued to local authorities on the provision to political parties of the expiry dates of postal voting mandates for individual electors with postal votes.

Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) are required by law to identify postal voters whose absent voting arrangements will expire on 31 January each year. These voters must be notified directly by the ERO that their current arrangement is ending and that they will need to submit a new postal vote application if they wish to continue voting by post.

While political parties are entitled to receive absent voting lists, the expiry date of a postal vote does not form part of the absent voting record. As such, there is no provision for EROs to share this information.