The Greater London Authority Elections Rules 2000

Rule 6

SCHEDULE 6MODIFICATION OF RULES WHERE VOTES COUNTED BY ELECTRONIC MEANS

1.  In this Schedule—

“CMER” means the Constituency Members Election Rules;

“LMER” means the London Members Election Rules;

“MER” means the Mayoral Election Rules; and

any reference to a numbered form is a reference to the form of that number in the Forms Schedule(1).

2.  Where votes are counted by electronic means, the CMER, the LMER and, subject to paragraph 4, the MER, shall have effect as if—

(a)any reference to the counting of votes, in whatever terms, included a reference to counting by electronic means;

(b)CMER 16, LMER 17 and MER 17 (the official mark) were omitted;

(c)in the rule bearing the number set out in column (1) of the Table below—

(i)where there is an entry in respect of that rule in column (2) but no corresponding entry in column (3), the words set out, or the paragraph or sub-paragraph specified, in column (2) were omitted;

(ii)where there are entries in both columns (2) and (3), for the sub-paragraph specified, or for the words set out, in column (2) there were substituted the sub-paragraph or words set out in column (3);

(iii)where there is an entry in respect of that rule in column (4), the words set out in that column were inserted in the position specified; and

(d)for forms 5, 6 and 7 there were substituted forms which comply with the directions for printing set out in paragraph 3.

3.  The directions for printing referred to in paragraph 2(d) are—

Directions as to printing the ballot paper

1.  The ballot paper shall contain no words or marks other than—

(a)the headings (as appropriate) “ELECTION OF THE LONDON ASSEMBLY”, “YOU HAVE TWO VOTES”, “[NAME OF CONSTITUENCY] CONSTITUENCY MEMBER”“LONDON MEMBER” and “ELECTION OF MAYOR”;

(b)those necessary—

(i)to give effect to the provisions of CMER 15(2)(a), (c) and (d), LMER 16(3)(b), (d) and (e) and MER 16(3)(b), (d) and (e) and to paragraph 2 below; and

(ii)for its recognition and counting by the electronic counting equipment;

(c)the instruction (to be inserted on the back of ballot papers other than postal ballot papers) “DO NOT FOLD”;

(d)on the ballot paper for the election of the Mayor—

(i)the instruction “VOTE ONCE IN EACH COLUMN”;

(ii)adjacent to the columns in which the first preference vote and the second preference vote are to be marked, the words “1st Choice” and “2nd Choice”, respectively;

(iii)immediately below those words, a representation of an arrowhead; and

(e)on the ballot paper for the election of the London Assembly—

(i)adjacent to the columns in which the vote for the constituency member and the vote for the London member are to be marked, the instruction “VOTE ONCE ONLY”; and

(ii)immediately below those words, a representation of an arrowhead.

2.  So far as practicable, the following arrangements shall be observed in the printing of the ballot paper—

(a)the space allocated to the names of the candidates shall be divided equally between them;

(b)different fonts and sizes of character may be used for—

(i)surnames,

(ii)other names,

(iii)addresses, or

(iv)other particulars,

but fonts and sizes of character shall not otherwise vary as between the surnames, other names, addresses and other particulars of any of the candidates;

(c)the space allocated to the emblem of each candidate whose request for the appearance on the ballot paper of his party’s registered emblem (or one of them) has been duly made shall be the same as that allocated to the emblem of every other such candidate;

(d)where an emblem is to be printed against a candidate’s particulars it shall be printed between the column where the candidate’s number on the ballot paper is printed and the column in which the candidate’s particulars are printed;

(e)on the back of the ballot paper the number shall be printed in small characters; and

(f)the instruction referred to in paragraph 1(c) shall be printed in large capital letters.