leave the referendum without an important element of the ordinary electoral machinery unless some other provision is made. Candidates and their agents are specifically afforded access to the various stages in the procedure at which ballot papers are handled-the despatch and opening of postal votes, the casting of votes in polling stations and the count. The Government are considering to what extent the presence of independent observers would be appropriate and useful at the equivalent stages in the referendum poll.
Counting the votes and announcing the result
18. The votes cast at local polling stations and sealed into ballot boxes there can be counted at various levels. These divide broadly into a choice between a central count and a variety of methods of counting locally.
19. It would be practicable to arrange for the votes to be counted, as they are in local and Parliamentary elections, by local government district and London borough or by Parliamentary constituency. This arrangement would have advantages of speed, familiarity and economy. It would also be possible to arrange for the count to be organised by counties.
20. To arrange for all votes cast in the United Kingdom to be counted centrally would involve the creation of new machinery and would clearly be a major administrative task, involving the transport of ballot boxes from polling stations to the counting centre. The count itself is likely to require at least five working days, including polling day.
21. In considering these alternatives the Government have attached par- ticular weight to the character of the referendum as a national poll on a national issue, organised to secure the verdict of the whole British people. The constituency is the whole of the United Kingdom. In this respect the referendum will be fundamentally different from a General Election in which individual members of Parliament are elected by individual constituencies. The Government have taken full account of the views of those who believe that the voting pattern of the different parts of the United Kingdom should be made known. But they believe that the most appropriate arrangement in the special circumstances of the referendum will be to count all the votes cast centrally and to make a single declaration of the United Kingdom result. To announce the result in this way will secure its widest acceptance by the British people.
22. Detailed arrangements for a central count are now being planned. The possibility is being considered of using any mechanical processes which may be of assistance, although a manual count is judged likely to prove the most reliable arrangement. One centre in London may be used for the count in the interests of security and economy of organisation.
23. A national returning officer will be appointed in due course. He will be responsible for the arrangements for counting the votes and certifying the result of the referendum which will be reported to Parliament by the Prime Minister.
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