Advice FAQ Articles

Why should we collect petitions? Collecting signatures on a petition to support a cause has been a mainstay of campaigning for decades. By collecting signatures…

The marked register is a copy of the electoral roll that was used on polling day that shows who voted. It is available in two…

Why do we need members? Every local party, no matter how big or small, needs members. Why? There are a number of reasons including, but…

Messaging is about defining what the election is about, defining your candidate, and defining the opposition. Defining Your Candidate (We’re good) For the Liberal Democrats…

Forms and Practicalities You need to sign an Acceptance of Office form as soon as possible (at the latest two months). Practical things to sort…

Scrutiny All members of the Council who are not Executive Members, have an opportunity to take part in scrutiny. This works differently in different councils,…

How Meetings Work Meetings are governed by Standing Orders and you need to have at least a rudimentary knowledge of what is contained in them.…

Keeping your seat The campaign to keep your council seat in four years time starts today! Here’s our plan for keeping your ward a Liberal…

The Liberal Democrat Group is the basic “building block” of how we work together on the Council. Regular well attended group meetings are essential. The…

Local Champion That means you! That’s what we say about our Councillors on FOCUS leaflets and it needs to be true. You’re the person that…

Deposit There is a requirement for a deposit to accompany the nomination for General Elections but not local elections. Varying different rules apply to Mayoral,…

The Returning Officer’s powers Having the Returning Officer or her staff check the nomination paper on submission is highly recommended, and you can generally be…

Organising your bank accounts Why it matters The law requires that all money received for the election must be accounted for on election returns, with…

Other by-elections What follows is a brief summary. Details should be checked as needed. European Parliament The vacancy will be filled by the next available…

What is an outside appointment? An outside appointments is any appointment made by a council to an external body such as a housing association, charity…

Parish and Community Council vacancies The rules are similar except that in order for the vacancy to be filled by a by-election, 10 electors from…

Most electoral law applies in the same way to by-elections as it does to the other elections at the same level of government Parliamentary by-elections…

Permissible donors A candidate or her agent must accept donations only from permissible donors. These are: an individual registered in a UK electoral register, a…

Connect is a powerful tool, and to get the most of it we should be using the correct scripts and asking the correct questions when…

Poll Cards The Returning Officer is responsible for issuing a poll card to everyone qualified to vote in an election. All electors should receive a…

Polling Agents The agent has the power to appoint polling agents. If they are paid the appointment is the agent’s; if they are unpaid the…

Children Parents can bring their children with them into the polling station when they go to vote.

Committee Rooms The party’s Committee Rooms for running the polling day operation can be as close to the polling station as you are able to…

Selfies The law around taking photographs in the polling station, and in particular people taking photos of themselves voting, is complicated and involves several different…

The Presiding Officer Each polling station has its own Presiding Officer, who is in charge. Their decision is final and they have powers in all…

You should be thinking about your polling day now. First consider the strategy across your authority. It’s pointless running a polling day of military precision…

A postal vote means someone can (as the name suggests) vote by post rather than having to turn up in person on the day at…

The postal vote opening sessions are sometimes called the “postal vote counts” but in reality they are just the equivalent of the verification stage one.…

What is the postal vote? The ‘postal vote’ is the votes of people who have opted to vote by post in an election. Any elector…

What does a postal voting agent do? A postal voting agent is allowed to attend and observe postal vote opening sessions, which are run by…

Posters and Imprints Posters must have an imprint on the side that will be displayed. This also applies to a leaflet, one side of which…

Posters and loudspeaker vans Posters cannot be within the confines of the polling station (except in Scotland). Lift cars with posters on can, however, usually…