305Form of ballot-papers

305 Form of ballot-papers

305 Form of ballot-papers

(1) The returning officer is to have ballot-papers printed for the election and is to provide a sufficient number of ballot-papers to be initialled and used for the election.

(2) Every ballot-paper must contain a mark—

(a) in relation to an election administered by an electoral services provider—that bears the name of the council, or

(b) in relation to an election administered by the Electoral Commissioner—that has been determined by the Electoral Commissioner.

(3) In printing the ballot-papers for an election in which there are no groups, the names of the candidates are to be printed in one column (starting at the top) in the order determined as referred to in section 302.

(4) In printing the ballot-papers for an election—

(a) in which there is only one group, the names of candidates included in that group are to be printed in a group before the names of candidates, if any, not included in that group, and

(b) in which there are 2 or more groups, the names of candidates included in the groups are to be printed in groups across the ballot-papers (starting from the left side) in the order determined as referred to in section 302, before the names of candidates, if any, not included in any such group, and

(c) the order, within a group, in which the names of candidates in that group are to be printed in the ballot-papers is the order specified in the claim made by them under section 308A of the Act, and

(d) the names of candidates, if any, not included in any group are to be printed as a group, without any identification referred to in subsection (5), on the ballot-papers in the order determined as referred to in section 302.

(5) In printing the ballot-papers, each group (and each group voting square relating to the group) is to be identified by the word “Group” followed by a successive letter of the English alphabet, starting with the letter “A”, and if there are more than 26 groups each group (and each group voting square relating to the group) after the twenty-sixth is to be identified by such symbol as may be determined by the election manager.

(6) If 2 or more persons have been endorsed by a political party as candidates in an election and a claim has been made to include the names of those candidates in a group on the ballot-papers, the following requirements apply to the printing of the ballot-papers—