LOCAL ELECTION NOMINATION AND CERTIFICATION GUIDE
Chris Rose. National Election Agent. 17/11/2014.
The law requires Council Returning Officers to officially accept nomination papers from 25 working days before the poll. They have the discretion to do so earlier than that, and will often be willing to do an unofficial check that they are in order before this time. The deadline for submission is 12 noon on the 19th working day before polling day. Problems can nearly always be fixed as long as you do not leave the submission of nomination papers to the last moment.
The only good (legal) reason to leave submission until the final day is if the candidate becomes 18 on that day. If nominationpapers have to be submitted this late, make an appointment to go in and have the Acting Returning Officer (ARO) or their staff check them first thing in the morning. Take the relevant register(s) with you and have transport standing by in case you have to go back out and get new signatures.DO NOT shove your papers through some Council letter box the night before close of nominations and assume that they will get to the ARO’s desk in time.
Candidate certifications (see below) must also be submitted by close of nominations.
If the nomination papers are in on time but the certification is not, then that candidate will only be able to stand as an 'Independent' or with no description.
1) REQUIREMENT TO BE CERTIFIED IN ORDER TO BE DESCRIBED AS A GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE,AND TO USE THE EMBLEM ON THE BALLOT PAPER.
Candidates cannot use the registered party name or registered party descriptions (see below) or the registered emblem on the ballot paper without being certified ('licenced') by the party’s registered Nominating Officer (RNO - currently the National Election Agent) or someone else authorised in writing by them to do so.
There is no requirement in law for the person holding an authority to certify candidatesto be an Election Agent. But for logistical reasons the RNO normally authorises Agents to certify candidates, unless the Local Party has good reason for having some other arrangement.
If your area is not covered by a Local Party you must get the consent of a Regional Party Officer before the Party's Nominating Officer will certify you or issue an authority for someone else to do so.
As a certified candidate you will then be able to request in writing that the party emblem appears adjacent to your name on the ballot paper.
NOTE that if you are standing at Parish/Town/Community Council level with no description, or as an ‘Independent’, you do not need to be certified – but the local, Regional and national Party Agents should be informed.
2) THE NOMINATION PAPERS AND NOMINATION PROCEDURE.
Nomination papers consist of: Nomination, Candidate's Consent and Appointment of Agent forms.
These are usually available from the Council’s Acting Returning Officer, but sometimes they are not willing to supply them as far in advance as you might like. Alternatively, they can be downloaded at any time from the Electoral Commission’s website at which can be useful where you have a lot of candidates and you want to make an early start, or the Council is slow to make forms available. Whatever the Council may say, they are obliged to accept Electoral Commission forms, and cannot insist that you use theirs. In practice, many Council’s now use the Commission’s versions anyway.
There is no limitation in law on who may submit the nomination papers for a local election candidate. It is best that the candidate or Agent does so as the (Acting) Returning Officer will usually allow them to sign for minor corrections to nomination papers, such as putting right wrong polling numbers so that the paper will not then be invalidated. For this and other reasons it's prudent to make an appointment to have papers checked at the time you deliver them.
(NOTE: where the word Ward is used here, the same applies in the case of County Council electoral Divisions).
i) NOMINATION FORM:-
Name and address.
The form must include the candidate’s surname, then other names in full; acandidate risks having their nomination paper rejected by the Returning Officer ifthey use initials. The use of a name that is not as it appears on theelectoral register may also be challenged if it is entered in the ‘other names in full’section and not the ‘commonly used’ sections of the form.
‘Commonly used’ surname(s) and forename(s) are now permitted, as longas the Returning Officer is satisfied that they are not likely to mislead or confuseelectors, and are not obscene or offensive. If the name is not permissible, theReturning Officer will write to the candidate stating the reason for disallowing it, and the candidate’s full names will be used.
Titles or prefixes, such as Mr, Mrs, Dr should not be used; the format should be,for example, Bloggs, Joanne Mary. If the candidate is normally known by another name,it can be included as follows: Bloggs, Joanne Mary and the ‘commonly used forenames’section would show ‘Jo’. This would mean that the ballot paper will read Miller, Jo.
The exact wording of the candidate’s name, as entered on the nominationpaper, will appear on any notices and on the ballot paper. If the ‘commonly used’surname and/or forename provision has been used, these details will be used instead.
The full *residential* address of the candidate must be given. (Note that the residential address must be given even if the candidate is standing on the basis of a workplace qualification). The precise wording of the address will appear on the ballot paper so think carefully about this. It could be advantageous, for example, to emphasise the neighbourhood the candidate lives in. An example of this is:
Imagine a candidate living in Hampstead in Camden, London. An address could be: Jo Bloggs, 12 Church Street, Hampstead, London, NW3 1ND or Jo Bloggs, 12 Church Street, London, NW3 1ND. The former would be advantageous should the candidate be in Hampstead but the latter advantageous should the candidate be somewhere else.
Description
'Description' is the onethat the candidate is certified to stand under, which in our case is our registeredParty name or one of the alternative registeredPartydescriptions- except that some Parish/Town candidates may choose not to use a Party description on account of the traditions pertaining to that Council.
The registered Party name/description you use has to be one that is listed on the authority signed by the RNO that is held by your Agent or other appointed person. Authorities normally have a 4 year period of validity and the party sometimes changes its registered descriptions. If you feel that you need to use a description that is not listed on your existing authority, because it is an older version, please request a new one in good time.
What are the registered names/descriptions?
The law allows use of the registered Party name or a registered description. At the time of going to print:
The registered Party name is Green Party, without “The” as a prefix (Welsh version Plaid Werdd).
whilst the registered descriptionswhich may instead be used at a local election are:
The Green Party Green Party candidate
Plaid Werdd Ymgeisydd Plaid Werdd
The Green Party Candidate Green Party lead candidate
Ymgeisydd y Blaid Werdd Prif ymgeisydd y Blaid Werdd
Green Party first choice candidate Green Party second choice candidate
Ymgeisydd dewis cyntaf y Blaid Werdd Ymgeisydd ail dewis y Blaid Werdd
Green Party third choice candidate Green Party fourth choice candidate
Ymgeisydd trydydd dewis y Blaid Werdd Ymgeisydd pedwerydd dewis y Blaid Werdd
Green Party Stop Fracking Now
Ecology Party and The Party of the Environment are registered descriptions to keep 'boarders' off our old name and reduce space for them to muscle in on our general territory respectively. These are not listed on authorities to Agents socannot in practice be used by candidates.We have already seen ‘Vote blue, go green’ from the Conservatives, and ‘Liberal Democrats - for a greener Britain’
Nominating signatures.
For a Principal Authority the signatures (and the law means normal signature) ofa proposer, seconder and 8 other nominators are required. As an aid to clarity, the version available from the Electoral Commission’s website has a second column in which signatories can also print their full name in capitals. The 10 signatories must be registered electors within the Wardfor which the candidate is standing. They must be of voting age by the date of the poll. Each nominator may only validly put their signature to as many nomination papers as there are vacancies.Additional later submissions of that signature won't count. In a Ward with three vacancies, a given elector may validly sign three papers - which do not have to be of candidates standing for the same Party. If there are 3 Green candidates they can therefore all have the same ten signatures. If that elector signs 4 or more papers, their signature will only count on the first three submitted. The active political community is small, and Green candidates have had signatures ruled out on this basis in the past. This is a very good reason why you should not to submit your nomination papers at the last moment.
A candidate who is a registered elector for the Ward they are standing in may sign their own nomination paper - though this will look weak, especially in a target Ward, and is not recommended. Getting people to sign nomination papers is a good way to start roping them into the campaign. If you do not have 10 members/friends in a Ward,simply knock on doors and explain that signing does not commit people to vote for you, it just means they believe democracy will be better served by enabling a Green Party candidate to be on the ballot paper. But do point out that lists of nominators for each candidate are posted outside polling stations.
Only two signatures are required for a Parish/Town Council election. If the Council is Warded they will have to come from electors registered in that Ward. If not, from anyone registered within the Council's boundary.
The Polling Numbers of signatories must also be given. These consist of ‘Distinctive Letters’ which are code for the Ward and Polling District within it, and the ‘Number’ which appears against their name in the register.
To avoid errors you MUST take the electoral register – or a print-out of the relevant section - with you when getting signatures. Ensure that you put the correct Polling letters and number next to each name. These will be used by the ARO/their staff to locate the nominators in the register. Wrong letters/numbers can invalidate a nomination paper, but if the person can be found the Agent will usually be allowed to sign on the paper against a correction.
Do not assume that Party members are registered to vote, even if they insist they are!
A candidate is entitled to one free copy of the register for the Ward they are contesting. The legal definition of the point at which someone becomes a candidate means that the Electoral Registration Officer (usually the same person as the ARO) is within their rights not to give them it until Notice of Election. Your Local Party Agent will have an authority from the RNO giving them the ‘Constituency Party’ entitlement to the register, for the area that your group covers, on a year-round basis.
Thelaw states that only the first ten signatures on a paper may be taken into account. As an insurance, you can fill up more than one nomination paper per candidate, but don't put an 11th, 12th etc. signature on the same paper as the law says that they should be ignored.
If mistakes are made, cross them out neatly with a single line so that the error can be seen to be honest. Do not use tippex etc.
At a local election the law requires only one set of nominating names to be published per candidate.
Before submission make a last check against the register for any obvious mistakes.
ii) CANDIDATE'S CONSENT TO NOMINATION FORM:-
The candidate must sign this to accept their nomination. In so doing they must also state that they are qualified, and not disqualified from standing.
For a local election this means 18 years old at close of nominations, and a British, Republic of Ireland, Commonwealth or EU citizen.In addition, one or more of the following must be satisfied:
- registered elector for the authority
- principal or only place of work in the authority's area during the12 months preceding nomination AND election dates;
- resided in the authority's area for the whole of the 12 months preceding nomination AND election dates
- occupied as owner or tenant land or premises in the authority's area for the whole of the 12 months preceding nomination AND election dates.
NOTE - the workplace and residence requirements may be met by a series of jobs and dwellings, and ‘work’ does not have to be paid work. Also, the workplace qualification uses the word *during* (rather than 'the whole of' as in other qualifications). It is therefore our belief that this does not necessarily mean the whole of the twelve months, but this has not been tested in a court of law. ‘Occupied as owner or tenant’ requires some evidence of being present and using the land or premises in question.
NOTE – a person may stand for more than one Local Authority if they are qualified to do so (e.g. they may live in one and work in another). Target Ward candidates should NOT do this as the local media and opponents may well use it to suggest that you are not serious about winning or about one particular area. A candidate may be nominated for more than one Ward of a given Council, butunless all but one nomination is withdrawn by the deadline for withdrawal of nominations, all their nominations will be ruled invalid.
TARGET WARD CANDIDATES NOTE .....The register qualification must apply throughout a term of office. So as an insurance against becoming no longer qualified on that basis (perhaps you move 10 yards over the Council boundary but still work in it), you should PROVIDE DETAILS FOR AS MANY OF THE QUALIFICATIONS AS APPLY.
Disqualifications: Various, including bankruptcy (where you are subject to a bankruptcy order or interim order - but if simply bankrupt, and not subject to any orders or restrictions, you are eligible to stand for election). Also 3 months or more in prison (without the option of a fine) in the 5 years preceding the election. If in doubt check with yourElection Agent. You cannot stand for a Local Authority that employs you - but if you live in District A and are employed by District B, or you work for the County Council District A is in, you can stand for District A. Because you have to be qualified, and not disqualified, on both the day of your nomination and that of the election, you cannot stand on the basis that you'll give up your job if elected.
You should not sign and date the consent form before you become qualified in the case that, for instance, you become 18 during the nomination period (in which case you should not submit your nomination papers before that date).
The consent form has to be witnessed. Anyone can do this.
Some Local Government employees hold ‘politically restricted’ posts and cannot engage in overt party-political activity. It is sometimes possible to get a written exemption from the employer.
IT IS NOW AN OFFENCE TO GIVE FALSE INFORMATION ON NOMINATION PAPERS.
Organisation:
Agents may wantkey campaign organisers to devote all their time to target Wards by encouraging other candidates, including those in non-target Wards, to collect their own nominating signatures. It is not that difficult, but history shows that people will make mistakes or lose their nerve and don’t get it done. You may therefore prefer to organise experienced people to get some or all candidate’s nomination papers filled up for them.
The Agent/person authorised to certify the candidates should closely monitor progress with nomination papers and ensure that his/her candidates submit them to him/her well before the deadline for close of nominations. The Agent will then submit the nomination papers to the ARO.In a well-organised local party Agents will ask candidates/activists to get completed nomination forms back to them a couple of days before nominations open, so they can be handed in on the first possible day, reducing risk of signatures being ruled out of order and enabling attention to turn to target ward campaign as soon as possible.
You can get nomination signatures as soon as you wish, usingthe forms on the Electoral Commission website and if you have a large slate of candidates you may wish to start on this in February, or even January .
iii) APPOINTMENT OF AGENT FORM:-
If not submitted (in time) the candidate will be deemed their own Agent. At a local electionthis form does not have to be submitted untilthree working days later than the others, but it's easier to do it at the same time as all the other papers go in.