New Clause 3 Absent and overseas voters
Electoral Administration Bill
12:30 pm
‘(1)The Secretary of State shall, within 12 months of the enactment of this Act lay regulations—
(a)providing that overseas voters’ ballot papers may be delivered to a British diplomatic representative and if so delivered before the close of the poll shall be counted there in secure conditions and the result transmitted by electronic means to the returning officer or officers in any such polls;
(b)providing that absent voters’ ballot papers may on any weekday after their distribution by post be left at a place designated by the returning officer at any time designated in this regulation and kept in secure conditions until the close of the poll when they shall be counted with other ballot papers; and
(c)providing that a returning officer or officers shall adopt a common date on which absent voters’ ballot papers shall be posted.
(2)Regulations made under this section shall be laid in draft before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament before being made.’. —[Mrs. Laing.]