The Speaker\u2019s Committee has not had discussions with the Electoral Commission on the matter referred to.<\/p>
The Commission has highlighted that voting by post is a safe and popular method of voting, with safeguards in place to protect against from fraud. Postal voters are required to provide their signature and date of birth when applying for a postal vote, and again when casting their vote. Returning Officers are responsible for checking these match.<\/p>
The Commission also encourages campaigners to follow the voluntary Code of Conduct, which makes clear that political parties and campaigners should not assist in completing a ballot paper, or handle completed ballot papers.<\/p>
The Elections Act also included additional measures intended to further strengthen protections around postal voting at future elections.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4436", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Cat Smith"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Lancaster and Fleetwood"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Cat Smith"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2023-04-17", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2023-04-17T09:27:14.717Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "36"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2023-03-29", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Absent Voting"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what recent discussions the Committee has had with the Electoral Commission on the security of postal votes.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1400", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kevin Brennan"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Cardiff West"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Kevin Brennan"} ], "uin" : "176574"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1144610", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1144610/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Electoral Commission does not take steps to encourage the take up of particular ways people can cast their vote, but rather provides guidance to support voters in taking their own informed decision.<\/p>
The only exception to this relates to overseas voters in the lead-up to a poll; where such voters are concerned that their returned postal ballot may not arrive in time, we specifically highlight the option of appointing a proxy.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4046", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Bridget Phillipson"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Houghton and Sunderland South"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Bridget Phillipson"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-09-09", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-09-09T08:17:47.203Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "36"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-09-04", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Absent Voting"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what steps the Electoral Commission is taking to increase the take-up of postal votes.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/534", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Chris Ruane"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Vale of Clwyd"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Chris Ruane"} ], "uin" : "286646"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }