Electoral Commission
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Statement on polling place review in Northern Ireland

On 30 January 2015 the Chief Electoral Officer announced the outcome of his polling place review in Northern Ireland.

There is a statutory right to appeal polling place reviews to the Electoral Commission, with one of the grounds for appeal including that the review was not conducted so as to meet electors’ reasonable requirements. On 10 and 16 March, the Commission received two such statutory appeals against the removal of Howard Memorial Primary School as a polling place.

The Commission has noted that although the original list of polling places included in the review suggested the retention of Howard Memorial Primary School as a polling place, in the list announced on 30 January it had been removed. This change occurred as a result of representations the Chief Electoral Officer received during the review process, following which he concluded that it would be appropriate to close Howard Memorial Primary School as a polling place, with alternative arrangements put in place. However, voters in the area were not made aware of the change to polling places suggested by the representations that had been received until the final announcement was made.

The Commission has concluded that those who had previously voted at Howard Memorial Primary School should have been made aware of the representations that had been made and that the Chief Electoral Officer was minded to change his approach, to give them an opportunity to provide their views on this proposed change to their polling arrangements. As a result we have directed the Chief Electoral Officer to reinstate Howard Memorial Primary School as a polling place. We have, however, reached our decision solely on the basis of the proper consultation process not being followed and not on the overall merits of using Howard Memorial Primary School as a polling place. The Chief Electoral Officer can carry out a review of some or all polling places at any time and in light of the overall decision that he made on 30 January, he will now need to determine whether any further steps are appropriate in relation to this polling place for the May 2015 elections and more generally.

Ends 

View the Commission's decision letter to the Chief Electoral Officer on this page. 

Channel website: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk

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