Clause 44 - Returning officers: correction of
Electoral Administration Bill
2:15 pm
David Heath (Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs & Shadow Leader of the House, Law Officers (Constitutional Affairs); Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
I have no problem with the intent behind the clause, which deals with the correction of procedural errors. However, the law as it stands, and as it will stand, is a quite draconian imposition on returning officers, who will be guilty of a criminal offence if they make an error in executing their duties. The import of the clause is that if they correct that error, even after they have been charged with an offence, they will not be guilty of that offence. The Minister is nodding, but that makes nonsense of their being charged with the offence in the first place.
There is no time scale for correcting the procedural error; it can even be corrected post-election, when the damage will already have been done to the chances of one or more candidates. If proceedings are taken against the officer, he can still, as far as possible, correct the procedural error. He will then not be guilty of an offence, which does not sound very sensible. I am sure that the intent is good, and I do not quarrel with it, but this seems an odd way of doing things.