General guidance about polling places
Passes
- Candidates and their agents will only be admitted on production of a valid ID Pass on every occasion they seek admission. This will be strictly enforced.
- Candidates will have a pass or a lanyard. Polling agents will be given a numbered security wristband.
- If a pass is lost, a replacement can be issued by the Elections Office at the City Chambers. Please use the contact numbers at the end of this guidance to arrange this, if required.
- Please help to ensure the safety and security of the Ballot by signing in and out when you attend the polling place.
Requirements of Secrecy
- Agents must read and abide by the Requirement for Secrecy (see Appendix 1). This is a very serious matter and breaches may be investigated by Police Scotland and could lead to fines or imprisonment.
Conduct
- The Code of Conduct for Campaigners at Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru, Scottish council and Welsh local elections provides a guide to what is, and is not, considered acceptable behaviour at polling stations and in the community during the lead-up to polling day.
- Within a polling place, it is strictly forbidden to offer documentation or literature or to make any other attempt by whatever means to influence voters as to how they cast their votes.
- The Electoral Management Board for Scotland has issued guidance on campaigning in and around polling places
- Campaigners must nor obstruct the entrance to a polling place, block the pavement outside or intimidate voters.
Poll Cards/Letter
- Voters do not need a poll card/letter to vote
- The poll card/letter is the property of voters. They are not required to surrender them and must not be pressurised to do so as they contain personal data. POs will not accept polling cards from voters.
Marked Registers
- Lists of electors who have or have not voted or any other polling information must not be taken out of polling stations before the poll closes.
Bills or posters
- The fixing of bills or posters to any part of polling place for example walls, railings or fences is not permitted.
- Bills will normally be allowed on the pavements outside a polling place if they are positioned so as not to cause any obstruction to pedestrians, vehicular traffic or to polling place signage.
- Any question of obstruction will be managed by the SPO or SSPO in conjunction with the Police, if required.
A-Boards
- The Council has an A-Board policy which has been circulated to all candidates and agents.
- While there is a city-wide ban on advertising structures on streets, which includes A-boards and would extend to the streets around polling places, it has been custom and practice that the rules have not been enforced on polling day due to the temporary nature of the adverts and the general role of the council in supporting participation in electoral events.
- This operational waiving of the rules requires the following terms of use
- A-boards would only be erected during the hours of polling – 7am to 10pm
- They must be sited off the pavement whenever possible
- They musted be sited so as to avoid any obstruction to pedestrians
- They must be sited so as to avoid any obstruction to access to the polling place.
- In addition, the following requirements will be enforced
- A-boards should be no larger than 1010mm x 914mm
- The overall height of any A-board should not exceed 1010mm from ground level
- Where required, A-boards may be securely weighed down by sandbags or affixed into grass with tent pegs where permissible (wind can make boards dangerous and they will be removed if not secure)
- Each candidate and/or political party may erect only one A-board at each polling place entrance.
Chalk on pavements
A campaign at the election in May 2021 used “chalk paint” stencilled on pavements as “campaign posters” to replace A-boards. In some cases, these were posted inappropriately within the boundaries of buildings, on an entrance ramp or outside private venues.
While we cannot ban the use of chalk on for example pavements, we would ask that such marks are not used in future. In any case do not place such marks within the curtilage of any building.
Cars
- Cars displaying election material are not normally allowed within the polling place that is within the grounds of the building.
- However, cars which bring disabled or elderly persons to vote may, where local conditions permit, be allowed to bring those persons to the door of the polling place. In such circumstances the cars should wait in a discreet place while the persons are voting and should leave the polling place without delay as soon as the persons have voted or as directed by the SPO or SSPO.
Number of voters attending a polling place
- There is no specific entitlement for polling agents to be informed of the number of persons who have voted.
- However, to assist in giving live information on turnout, Returning Officers have asked their POs to tell polling agents how many papers they have issued at the time of the request.
- The information is to be supplied if asked for, however POs can ask agents to wait if they are busy dealing with voters when the request is made.
Smoking
- Smoking in polling stations and within polling places is not permitted.
- Candidates and their agents are required to comply with this restriction.
- Please also pay attention to the requirements of the polling place which many have a no smoking policy covering the grounds and in these cases, please respect these restrictions.
- In any case, please be considerate and do not litter the area.