Electoral Administration Bill

moved Amendment No. 97:"After Clause 38, insert the following new clause—" ““EXTRA BALLOT BOXES FOR POSTAL VOTES There shall be available in each constituency until, and including, polling day, a ballot box at which postal votes may be cast in person.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, the amendment says exactly what it is about. It would provide for ballot boxes to be available at every polling station which would be able to take in late postal votes. I was grateful for the support of the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, on this point in Committee. Having considered the Minister’s response in Committee, I thought that I could have another go at this issue. Although she said that the provision in law to place a ballot box for postal votes in a polling station exists, it occurred to me that that might not be in very wide practice. It also seemed that, in bringing ballot boxes for postal votes into the polling station itself, the security surrounding the other votes could apply to postal votes cast on the day. As I remember, the Minister’s main objection to the amendment in Committee was that the Government,"““would have to consider how to staff and manage this requirement””," and that they,"““would need to prescribe where they should be located, the hours they would be available to voters””.—[Official Report, 23/3/06; col. GC198-99]." Having looked at a polling station during the local elections, I do not accept this as being a reasonable response to the amendment. The location of the ballot box is set out by the amendment: it would be in the polling station. The hours could tally with the hours for regular voters, and it would not be impossible for the staff in the polling station to manage one or more—perhaps two at the most—extra boxes. I do not see an enormous challenge in bringing a facility that is said already to exist in town halls to the polling station for convenience. It would make a real difference to those people who cannot make it to the town hall, but who are able to get to their polling stations in time. This amendment would not forbid the collecting of postal votes at town halls as well, but it would ensure that when an elector goes to a polling station to put his vote in a box, he may do so. I beg to move.