Local Elections (Hansard, 12 June 2000)

§ Mr. Ben Chapman
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to promote postal ballots in local elections. [125389]

§ Mr. Mike O'Brien
The Representation of the People Act 2000 contains provisions, which will shortly be brought into force, which will allow for postal votes on demand.
Seven local authorities ran pilot schemes involving all postal ballots at the recent local elections and we are looking forward to receiving the evaluation reports of those schemes.
We hope that more local authorities will apply to run such schemes at future local elections.

§ Mr. Ben Chapman
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to extend the practice of increasing the number of voting days in local elections. [125388]

§ Mr. Mike O'Brien
Fifteen local authorities ran pilot schemes involving voting on more than one day at the recent local elections and we are looking forward to receiving the evaluation reports of those schemes.
We hope that more local authorities will apply to run such schemes at future local elections.