§ Mr. Peter RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many individuals listed on(a) the postal vote and (b) the proxy vote permanent register obtained postal and proxy votes for each election since 1992. [8691]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyThe following is the information:
517W
§ Mr. RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will list by constituency the number of applications signed by individual doctors and the reason given for(a) postal votes and (b) proxy votes for the 1997 general election. [8693]
§ Mr. MurphyRecords of absent vote applications are not currently stored in a way that would readily provide information on reasons for application and individual doctors attestations.
The chief electoral officer has instituted a review of all absent vote applications for the last three elections in Northern Ireland and any relevant conclusions of the report may be published in due course.
§ Mr. RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many applications for(a) postal votes and (b) proxy votes have been refused for each election since 1992. [8692]
§ Mr. MurphyUntil 1996, absent vote applications were dealt with by area offices and as a consequence no records are available for the numbers of applications refused in previous years. For the 1997 elections, a central absent voting unit was established.
Significant numbers of applications were received in good time, but were incomplete and had to be returned to the applicant. In such cases, each applicant received a letter of explanation and was invited to resubmit their correctly completed form. However, large numbers of applications were received in the last hours before cut-off time for receipt of applications and, in these circumstances, it was not possible to return incomplete applications to applicants.
Parliamentary election—1 May 1997 Reason Number Applicant not registered elector 320 Received too late 300 Insufficient or no reason 162 Dual/treble attestation 126 Not attested or not properly attested 145 Not signed 66 Medical reason, non-physical illness 98 Medical (not properly completed) 64 Proxy information not completed 9 Letters returned by Post Office 5 Signature not accepted 3 Too late, received after "late" closing date 3 No date of election given 2 Miscellaneous 115 Total 1,418 518W
Local Government election—21 May 1997 Reason Number Applicant not registered elector 275 Received too late 398 No reason given 69 Insufficient information 88 Not attested 128 Dual/treble attestation 112 Not signed 121 Medical Non-physical illness 69 Miscellaneous 232 Total 1,492
§ Mr. RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will list, by constituency, the number of individuals listed on the permanent list for(a) postal votes and (b) proxy votes. [8690]
§ Mr. MurphyThe information is as follows:
Permanent absent voters by constituency (as at 18 July 1997) Constituency Proxy Postal Total Belfast East 114 572 686 Belfast North 101 572 673 Belfast South 98 531 629 Belfast West 80 430 510 East Antrim 189 372 561 East Londonderry 46 1,254 1,300 Fermanagh and South Tyrone 293 3,270 3,563 Foyle 116 993 1,109 Lagan Valley 118 916 1.034 Mid Ulster 77 2,529 2,606 North Antrim 123 760 883 North Down 150 554 704 Newry and Armagh 77 1,656 1,733 South Antrim 180 450 630 South Down 264 1,909 2,173 Strangford 136 705 841 Upper Bann 75 1,101 1,176 West Tyrone 253 2,087 2,340 Total 2,490 20,661 23,151