Numbers abolished from ballot papers for May elections

One more round of changes has been made to election law ahead of May’s elections, bringing the rules for local election ballot papers in line with the revised rules for general election ballot papers that I covered in Three changes to election law coming along for May.

That trio of changes included removing the consecutive numbering of candidates’ names which used to appear down the left hand side. Now the numbering has been removed from local council ballot papers in England and Wales too, courtesy of The Local Elections (Principal Areas) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Rules 2015 and The Local Elections (Parishes and Communities) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Rules 2015.

Featuring the numbers next to candidate names used to be a regular part of last minute Get Out The Vote literature. So whilst the change is a small one, as a result there are plenty of political literature artworkers who will have to remember to change their templates.