Day of Poll Inspector
There are 2 Day of Poll Inspectors that will be deployed throughout Portobello / Craigmillar and Southside / Newington area on the day of poll.
They will be responsible for all the polling places in their designated ward and they are there to support polling staff and to provide assurance to the Returning Officer that polling stations are operating properly.
They will visit polling places throughout the day, and will talk to staff at each station. Their first duty of the day will be to check the Senior Presiding Officer’s letter of appointment and amongst other things that all the ballot boxes have been sealed and documented correctly.
Duties of a Day Poll Inspector
Key responsibilities include
- Carrying out three to four routine visits of each polling place.
- Attend as requested, or directed, to address specific challenges.
- Support and advise polling staff – check that they have been able to take breaks, answer questions.
- Check all Polling Assistants are being rotated, between spending time at the polling table and directing electors at the polling place entry.
- Ensure the 12 step voting procedure is being followed correctly and speak to Presiding Officer if it is not.
- Move party political material from within the curtilage of a polling place.
- Provide regular updates to the Edinburgh Elections team throughout the day, via live electronic reporting system.
- Collate hand delivered postal vote packs and deliver them to a single polling place for uplift by couriers.
- Support close of poll process within a polling place as required.
- Log ballot box collection confirmation from each assigned polling place and subsequent sign off by poll staff.
- Provide summary feedback following the election.