Election agent
An election agent in
candidates may be their own election agent. The Electoral Commission provides periodic guidance for candidates and agents.[1]
In Canada and most of its provinces, an election agent is legally referred to as an official agent.
Election agents are responsible for sanctioning all expenditure on the candidate's campaign, for maintaining the accuracy of and submitting to the
counting of votes to ensure the accuracy and impartiality of the election, and may appoint polling and counting agents
to assist them in those tasks. The number of polling and counting agents that can be appointed is determined by the returning officer of the election and they must be appointed by a set date laid out in the timetable of the election.
Agents must usually have reached the
clerk
or officer to the returning officer in the given election. If candidate do not nominate an agent, they are their own agent.
The larger parties typically pay their election agents, and the role is gradually becoming a professional one, like the similar but not identical role of campaign manager in the United States.
See also
- Teller (elections)
- Polling agent
- Counting agent
- Campaign manager
- List of UK parliamentary election petitions
References
- ^ "Guidance for candidates and agents - Standing as a party candidate" (PDF). Electoral Commission. November 2018. p. 13. Retrieved 26 April 2019.