Electoral Administration Act 2006

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Electoral Administration Act 2006[a]
Act of Parliament
coat of arms
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to make provision in relation to the registration of electors and the keeping of electoral registration information; standing for election; the administration and conduct of elections and referendums; and the regulation of political parties.
Citation2006 c. 22
Introduced byHarriet Harman[1]
Territorial extent 
[b]
Dates
Royal assent11 July 2006
Commencementvarious[c][2]
Other legislation
Amends
Repeals/revokes
Amended by
Status: Amended
History of passage through Parliament
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended
Text of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Electoral Administration Act 2006[a] (c. 22) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed on 11 July 2006.

Among its main provisions, the act:

  • Provides a legislative framework for setting up a "Coordinated Online Record of Electors", known as "CORE", to co-ordinate electoral registration information across regions.[3]
  • Creates new criminal offences for supplying false electoral registration details or for failure to supply such details.
  • Allows people to register anonymously on electoral registers if a 'safety test' is passed.[4]
  • Requires local authorities to review all polling stations, and to provide a report on the reviews to the Electoral Commission.[5]
  • Provides for the making of signature and date of birth checks on postal vote applications.
  • Revises the law on "undue influence".
  • Allows observers to monitor elections (with the exception of Scottish local government elections, which are the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament).[6]
  • Reduces the age of candidacy for public elections from 21 to 18.[7]
  • Allows for alterations to ballot paper designs, including the introduction of barcodes and pilot schemes for the introduction of photographs on ballot papers.
  • Allows citizens of the Republic of Ireland and certain Commonwealth residents the right to stand in elections.
  • Changes rules on how elections are run in the event of the death of a candidate, following the events in South Staffordshire at the 2005 general election.
  • Provides for the entitlement of children to accompany parents and carers into polling stations.
  • Bars candidates from using in their name or description expressions such as "Don't vote for them" or "None of the above".
  • Bars candidates from standing in more than one constituency at the same election.
  • Allows political parties up to 12 separate descriptions to be used on ballot papers, and allows joint candidature.
  • Requires local authorities to promote and encourage electoral registration and voting.
  • Amongst other provisions affecting members of the armed forces and other persons with a "service qualification", allows the Secretary of State to extend the period of validity (previously one year) of a "service declaration" by which qualified persons may have their names placed on the electoral register as "service voters";[8] the Act also imposes new duties upon the Ministry of Defence.
  • Removes the requirement for an observer to witness the signing of the security statement of a postal vote.
  • Requires political parties to declare large loans. This provision was introduced as an amendment, surviving much parliamentary ping-pong, following the "Cash for Peerages" scandal.[9]

Some of its provisions came into effect upon it receiving assent,[10] with other provisions commencing on other dates.[2]

Coordinated Online Record of Electors

The proposed Coordinated Online Record of Electors[11] was never established, and plans for it were shelved by the coalition government in 2011.[12] The legal framework was later repealed by the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013.

Notes

  1. Section 79.
  2. Section 78.
  3. Section 77.

References

  1. "HC Hansard Vol. 437 No. 42 Col. 169". 11 October 2005. Retrieved 30 June 2008.
  2. "The Electoral Administration Act 2006 (Commencement No. 7) Order 2008", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 13 May 2008, SI 2008/1316, retrieved 25 January 2022
  3. "VIEWS SOUGHT ON A NEW RECORD OF ELECTORS". Local Government Chronicle. 14 December 2005. Retrieved 3 September 2025.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  4. "Stalking victims given anonymity". BBC News. 1 June 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2025.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  5. "Polling stations under review". Telegraph & Argus. 25 September 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2025.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  6. "Open Rights Group will monitor UK elections with thirty observers". Open Rights Group. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
  7. "AGE OF CANDIDACY TO BE REDUCED TO 18". Local Government Chronicle. 28 January 2005. Retrieved 3 September 2025.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  8. This power was exercised in 2006 to extend the period to three years. "The Service Voters' Registration Period Order 2006", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2006/3406, retrieved 25 January 2022
  9. "Political loans guidance drawn up". BBC News. 23 March 2006. Archived from the original on 22 May 2006. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
  10. per Section 77 of the Act
  11. "The Co-ordinated Online Record of Electors (CORE) – The implementation of national access arrangements" (PDF). Department for Constitutional Affairs. 14 December 2005. CP 29/05. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  12. "£11 million saved as electors database plan abandoned". Government of the United Kingdom. 18 July 2011.