The Scottish Ministers have used the Scottish Local Government Elections Amendment Order 2026 to make a targeted set of changes to the conduct rules for standalone Scottish local government polls. The Order was made on 2 September 2026, laid before the Scottish Parliament on 4 September 2026 and is due to come into force on 13 November 2026, but it has no effect for any election with a polling day on or before 5 May 2027. (legislation.gov.uk) In legal terms, the instrument amends Schedule 1 to the Scottish Local Government Elections Order 2011, which is the schedule used where a council poll is not combined with another election. That matters because the changes are less about headline electoral reform and more about the detail that governs nomination papers, ballot design, polling cards and polling station equipment. (legislation.gov.uk)
One change falls on candidates and election teams at the nomination stage. Where a candidate chooses not to publish a home address, or where the published home address is outside Scotland, the home address form must now include a correspondence address in Scotland. The Order's Explanatory Note states that this address is to be used and published only if the candidate becomes their own election agent by default. (legislation.gov.uk) This sits alongside the wider restructuring of local government candidacy rights in section 2 of the Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Act 2025, which modified section 29 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and repealed the earlier Schedule 6A machinery on candidacy rights of foreign nationals. Article 7 of the 2026 Order therefore substitutes Form 2, so nomination packs can reflect the current legal position rather than the pre-2025 drafting. (legislation.gov.uk)
The ballot paper change is straightforward but operationally important. Rule 14 is amended so that each candidate's surname must appear first, followed by the forename, with a comma separating the two. The Order also replaces Form 4 to match that standard format. (legislation.gov.uk) For administrators, this should reduce room for local variation in how names are presented on ballot papers. For candidates and agents, the practical point is that proofing will need to focus on name order and punctuation as well as spelling, because the format is now prescribed rather than left to local convention. The amendment changes presentation, not the voting system or the method of counting votes. (legislation.gov.uk)
Returning officers also get clearer statutory cover to add supplementary information to poll cards, postal poll cards and equivalent cards issued to proxies, provided that the extra material does not relate to any candidate or registered party. The new rule also allows different additional information to be sent to different electors or categories of elector. (legislation.gov.uk) That is best read as a permissive administrative change, not a new duty to run broader campaigns through the poll card. Electoral Commission guidance for Scottish Parliament voter materials already distinguishes between information that must appear on voter materials and areas where returning officers have discretion, and its wider guidance on engaging voters highlights operational information such as polling locations, voting methods, deadlines, available support and alternative formats. The 2026 amendment brings the local government rulebook closer to that practical reality. (electoralcommission.org.uk)
The most consequential amendment concerns disabled voters. The Order replaces the older requirement to provide a specified device for blind and partially sighted voters with a broader duty to provide such equipment as it is reasonable to provide to enable, or make it easier for, relevant persons to vote independently and in secret. Relevant persons are defined as people who find it difficult or impossible to vote in the required manner because of blindness, partial sight or another disability. (legislation.gov.uk) The drafting also creates a formal link to Electoral Commission guidance. The Commission must issue guidance for returning officers, must consult appropriate bodies including bodies representing relevant persons before doing so, and returning officers must have regard to that guidance when discharging the duty. The Order further states that, where equivalent Scottish Parliament guidance has already been issued and consulted on under the 2015 rules, that guidance is treated as satisfying the new local government requirement. (legislation.gov.uk)
In practice, this shifts the legal test away from one prescribed piece of kit and towards whether a polling station is reasonably equipped for independent and secret voting. The Electoral Commission's accessibility guidance says the purpose of the newer model is to anticipate barriers and provide equipment and support that matches different needs, including visible and invisible impairments, rather than treating assistance as a single-format issue. (electoralcommission.org.uk) The Commission's Scottish Parliament 2026 handbook shows the sort of measures already being treated as a minimum baseline under the aligned guidance model: seating, magnifiers, tactile voting devices, wheelchair-height polling booths, pencil grips, ramps, temporary doorbells, suitable lighting and, where available, disabled parking. Because the 2026 local government order recognises pre-existing Scottish Parliament guidance as compliant where the consultation requirements have already been met, returning officers are unlikely to be starting from a blank page. That final point is an inference from the saving provision in the Order and the Commission's published materials. (electoralcommission.org.uk)
The implementation burden now falls largely on councils, electoral administrators and suppliers. Revised nomination packs will be needed because Form 2 is replaced; ballot paper templates and proofing processes will need adjustment because Form 4 is replaced and name order is standardised; and polling station planning will need to be reviewed against the broader accessibility duty and the Commission's guidance. (legislation.gov.uk) For prospective candidates, the immediate compliance point is simple: any nomination lodged for a poll after 5 May 2027 that is caught by Schedule 1 will need to reflect the Scotland-based correspondence address requirement where the home address is withheld or outside Scotland. For returning officers, the more substantive task is to show that voter communications and polling station provision have been designed around independent participation, including secret voting, rather than around older minimum-device assumptions. The Order is technical, but its real effect will be felt in the paperwork, print room and polling station. (legislation.gov.uk)