§ Mr. Home Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what arrangements are in effect to ensure that electors can exercise their right to obtain postal votes; and if there is any restriction on the availability of RPF7 forms and other relevant documents to electoral registration officers in Scotland.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe returning officer is required to state in the notice of election the date by which applications to be treated as an absent voter and notices about postal or proxy voting must reach the electoral registration officer to be effective for the election. In addition, each electoral registration officer is required to give notice of that date in his area by such means as he thinks best calculated to bring the information to the notice of those concerned.
Application forms for a postal vote, most commonly on form RPF7, are made available by electoral registration officers from their offices and other local authority offices and are supplied to political parties on request in reasonable quantities. There are no restrictions on the availability of RPF7 forms and other relevant documents to electoral registration officers in Scotland who themselves determine their needs.