The Scottish Government has amended the rules on absent voting at local government elections, with changes set out in the Representation of the People (Absent Voting at Local Government Elections) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2026. The instrument was made on 2 September 2026, laid before the Scottish Parliament on 4 September 2026, and comes into force on 13 November 2026. According to the Scottish Statutory Instrument, the amendments make two practical changes to the 2007 absent voting framework. One expands the circumstances in which a late emergency proxy application can be made. The other tightens the timetable for refreshing proxy voter signatures held by electoral administrators.
The first change concerns emergency proxy voting for a particular election. Under the new provision inserted into regulation 10 of the 2007 Regulations, a voter may make a late application where that voter cannot reasonably be expected to vote in person because they are accompanying another person who is receiving medical care or treatment on polling day. This matters because the existing emergency proxy route is designed for situations that arise after the ordinary proxy deadline has passed. The 2026 amendment adds a specific new ground: not the applicant’s own treatment, but the need to act as a companion while someone else receives medical care or treatment on the date of the poll.
The instrument sets conditions around that new route. The application must be made after 5 p.m. on the sixth day before the poll, which is the point at which the ordinary deadline has already passed for the relevant election. The applicant must explain why the application could not have been made before that deadline. The application must also be attested and signed by another person who is aged 16 or over, knows the applicant, and is not related to them. That attestor must certify, to the best of their knowledge and belief, that the applicant’s explanation and the required information in the form are true.
The definition of who counts as related is spelled out in the amendment. A spouse, civil partner, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, child or grandchild cannot act as the attestor for this category of late application. In practical terms, electoral teams will need to check both the reason for the emergency request and whether the supporting signature comes from a qualifying person. For voters, the effect is narrowly targeted but important. A person who is unexpectedly required to accompany someone to medical care on polling day is now given a clearer legal route to appoint a proxy at short notice, provided the evidential requirements are met.
The second amendment deals with proxy voter signatures. Regulation 15A(1) of the 2007 Regulations previously said that registration officers may issue a notice requiring a fresh signature. The 2026 instrument replaces that wording so that registration officers must do so every year by 31 January. The explanatory note states that this applies where a proxy voter’s signature is more than five years old. The policy aim is administrative consistency: the Scottish Government says the change standardises the signature refresh process across Scottish Parliament and local government elections.
There is, however, an important timing qualification. Although the Regulations as a whole come into force on 13 November 2026, regulation 3, which creates the new medical companion emergency proxy ground, has no effect for any election where polling day falls on or before 5 May 2027. That means the new emergency proxy category will not apply to local polls held on or before that date. For electoral administrators, the immediate operational task is clearer on the signature side than on the emergency proxy side. Annual signature notices must now be issued by 31 January where the five-year threshold is met. For campaigners, proxy voters and advisers, the wider point is that absent voting rules remain highly date-specific, and the applicable version of the law will depend on the polling day as well as the commencement date of the instrument.