Postal voters warned about rules ahead of May elections

Elections for the borough's ten Warwickshire County Council divisions take place on Thursday 1 May, together with a by-election for Rugby Borough Council's New Bilton ward.

And with postal voters set to receive ballot papers over the next few weeks, the Returning Officer has highlighted key changes to postal voting which came into force for the first time at the 2024 local elections.

The rules mean postal voters must now complete and sign a postal vote return form when hand-delivering a vote at a polling station or the Town Hall.

Failure to complete the form means the vote must be rejected before the election count takes place.

A restriction on the number of postal votes which can be hand-delivered by a single voter also remains in place, with a voter only allowed to hand-deliver up to six postal votes (including the voter's own).

Dan Green, Returning Officer for Rugby, urged voters to return postal votes via the Royal Mail in the pre-paid envelope included with the ballot papers.

He also encouraged voters to put votes in the post in plenty of time before polling day.

"Returning your postal vote via the Royal Mail removes the requirement to sign a return form, so it's the simplest way to ensure your vote counts at the local elections," Mr Green said.

"We have put up signs at the Town Hall to remind postal voters of the rules, together with warning stickers on our letter boxes to deter voters from hand-delivering a postal vote without signing a return form.

"The rules mean if we receive a hand-delivered postal vote without a signed return form, we cannot inform the voter of the reason the vote was rejected until after the election."

Voters who want to hand-deliver postal votes can complete and sign a return form at the Town Hall from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Return forms can also be completed and signed at polling stations on Thursday 1 May.

Applications to vote by post at the local elections must be submitted by 5pm on Monday (14 April).

Other new voting rules introduced under the Election Act 2022 have changed voting by proxy, while voters who want to vote at a polling station need to produce a valid form of photo ID in order to receive a ballot paper.

Information about all the changes to the way we vote, together with how to apply for postal votes, proxy votes or a free Voter Authority Certificate photo ID, can be found online at www.rugby.gov.uk/electionready

ENDS