Electoral Administration Bill

My Lords, I do not need to say yes, because I think that what the noble Baroness is seeking already exists. I shall outline the present situation. We all accept that returning officers must be responsible for organising and running the election. They do not require additional powers to provide for the secure collection of ballot papers in a ballot box for postal voters who return their ballot paper by hand on or before polling day. Electors who have left it too late to return their ballot paper by post are presently able to go in person to any polling station within their constituency and hand in their completed postal vote to the staff on duty. So what the noble Baroness is seeking already exists. We do not therefore need to add the provision to legislation. When additional resources are needed, we have to be careful about that, but, as I have indicated, anybody can go to a polling station and hand in their postal ballot if they have not had chance to post it. We would not be able to require in legislation additional places for that to be done. As the noble Baroness indicated, facilities are often available in town halls. We leave that to the discretion of individual local authorities and electoral registration officers because of issues surrounding staffing and so on. However, one can already return one’s postal ballot on the day. So on the basis of one’s being able to do that, and leaving where else facilities might be provided to the discretion of individual returning officers, I hope that I have addressed the noble Baroness’s concerns. I apologise for not having done so properly in Committee.