European Parliament Elections in The United Kingdom - Polling Procedure - By Proxy

By Proxy

Any person who is eligible to vote (he/she does not necessarily have to be on the Electoral Register already) can be appointed by another voter as his/her proxy, but for the proxy to be able to vote in an election the proxy application must be received by the Electoral Registration Officer at the voter's local authority by 5pm 6 working days before polling day. The proxy can either vote in person, or can apply for a postal proxy vote (though a postal proxy vote applicaion has an even earlier deadline - any such request must be received by the Electoral Registration Officer by 5pm 11 working days before polling day at the latest). A voter who has become ill or disabled after 5pm six working days before polling day can make an emergency application to vote by proxy as long as the application is received by the Electoral Registration Officer by 5pm on polling day. Unless a close relative, a person can only vote as a proxy on behalf of a maximum of 2 other voters in any single election in each constituency/ward. When applying to vote by proxy for more than one particular election, the application must be accompanied by a relevant attestation and must be justified based on one of the following reasons: blindness; other disability; employment; on an education course; registered as a service, overseas or anonymous elector. If only applying to vote by proxy for one particular election, the elector only needs to explain why he/she cannot vote in person, but does not need an attestation. If it is only possible to get to the polling station from the registered address by air or by sea, the elector can apply for a permanent proxy vote without an attestation.

In Northern Ireland, voters can only appoint another person to be their proxy if they can provide a specific reason explaining why they cannot physically attend their allocated polling station.