Draft Elections (Jersey) Amendment No. 2 Law 202- (P.104/2025): comments

STATES OF JERSEY

DRAFT ELECTIONS (JERSEY) AMENDMENT NO. 2 LAW 202- (P.104/2025): COMMENTS

Presented to the States on 16th January 2026 by the Comité des Connétable s

STATES GREFFE

2025  P.104 Com.

COMMENTS

Ballot papers

In its report accompanying the Draft Elections (Jersey) Amendment No. 2 Law 202- (P.104/2025): amendment (P.104/2025 Amd.), the Comité said it would be presenting separate comments on the proposed change to Article 24, to switch the responsibility for  the  production  of  ballot  papers  for  a  public  election  from  the  Electoral Administrators to the Judicial Greffier, which it does not support.

The States Assembly took the decision to extend the postal vote option to every elector in 2022. Prior to that, a postal vote was only available to an elector who expected to be out of the island on polling day.

Overall, the number voting by postal and pre-poll are similar for 2018 and 2022 but there was a shift from pre-poll to postal as can be seen from the number of votes cast (figures from vote.je):

PPC's report notes that increased promotion of the accessibility of postal voting is likely to intensify its use by the public in 2026 and for this reason the Judicial Greffier is keen to accept a tender from a UK provider for the printing, administration of applications and postage of ballots. This suggests postal voting is more onerous administratively than pre-poll voting yet no additional financial and staffing implications were mentioned in the report when the States Assembly agreed the Law change to widen the postal vote (P.56/2021 refers).

Responsibility for providing ballot papers currently lies with the Electoral Administrator and these are sourced locally. The amendment provides little to no calculation of how costs have been estimated or analysis of why local providers, who offer printing, administration and postal services including for highly confidential material, have not been considered. The proposal will result in States business unnecessarily being moved off-island and will impact negatively on local businesses and the economy.

In conclusion, the amendment is misdirected and the change to Article 24, to switch the responsibility for the production of ballot papers for a public election from the Electoral Administrators to the Judicial Greffier, is not supported by the Comité. Articles 3, 4 and 5 in P.104/2025 should be rejected.

Postal voting and issue of ballot papers

The States adopted the DRAFT ELECTIONS (JERSEY) AMENDMENT LAW 202- (P.28/2025) which made changes to the Elections (Jersey) Law 2002. These included amendments to –

• Article 32 of the Elections Law so that the Autorisé or Adjoint in charge of a polling station must give a ballot paper for each poll for a public election or parish election being taken to each person entitled to vote in those elections. The amendment removes the provision for the Autorisé or Adjoint to ask the

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person, if more than 1 poll is being taken, in which of the polls the person wishes to vote and to give the ballot paper only for those polls.

• Article 42 of the Elections Law, which makes provision about the procedure for pre-poll voting. The amendments have the effect that the Judicial Greffier must give a ballot paper for each poll for a public election or parish election being taken to each person entitled to vote in those elections. The amendment removes the provision for the Judicial Greffier to ask the person, if more than 1 poll is being taken, in which of the polls the person wishes to vote and to give the ballot paper only for those polls.

No similar amendment has been made in relation to the issue of postal ballot papers.

The Comité considers that the same provisions should apply for postal, pre-poll and polling day voters. It is not possible to make such an amendment under P.104/2025 as it would contravene Standing Order 20(1)(a) so we hope that PPC will ensure this is addressed in any future amendments to the Elections law.

In the absence of such express provision in the Law, we understand it may be possible to achieve this using the Article 43(1A) power in the Elections law to design the postal vote application form so as to dispense with any theoretical possibility of a person voting by post in only one of a number of elections taking place on the same day.

The  Comité  would  welcome  an  assurance  from  the  Privileges  and  Procedures Committee and Judicial Greffier that this will be the process for postal voting in the 2026 elections.

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