§ 27. Mr. CarmichaelTo ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what discussions the Committee has had with the Electoral Commission on ensuring that people unable to sign or mark proxy or postal application forms are able to vote. [145854]
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§ Mr. ViggersThe Speaker's Committee's statutory remit does not normally require it to discuss such matters with the Electoral Commission, and no such discussions have taken place. The Commission considered this matter in its report on absent voting, published in March 2003, but having regard to the practical difficulties in preventing abuse if the law allowed severely disabled voters to be assisted outside a polling station, recommended that the law should not be changed in relation to the application procedure for proxy votes.