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Representation of the People (Combination of Polls) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2006

I am grateful to the two noble Lords for their comments on the regulations. I will answer the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, first. She asked about what happens in the event of the abandonment of a poll. Where the poll at a parliamentary election is abandoned due to the death of a candidate, the regulations provide that the poll—at an election that is combined with that election; for example, a local government election—will continue. Secondly, do people have to have identifiers for both elections, and where and by whom are they checked? On the issue of receipt of postal ballots at a parliamentary election that is combined with another election, the returning officer for the parliamentary election will be responsible for checking identifiers. The noble Baroness asked about marked postal voters list. The postal voters list will be marked when the postal voting statement has been received. The elector will be informed that it has been either received or provisionally rejected. I have answers coming through on the detailed questions asked by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves. On postal voter identifiers, the answer is yes. That is nice and short. He also asked about pilots for electronic counts and voters being asked not to fold the ballot paper. That provision will be in a pilot order that is accurate, and an e-count result can be achieved. I think that the noble Lord asked a few more questions, and I will write to him if that is all right.