Leadership email and paper ballots have been going out over the last 24 hours.

Party members have until 1pm on Wednesday 26th August to place “1” or “2” or “blank” against the names of (listed alphabetically) Ed Davey and Layla Moran, or to abstain.

I received my email this morning from Alan Masters, the returning officer. The email included a unique number which I should use to place my vote.

It included the following links for those who are yet to decide:

Rewatch hustings that have already taken place here: www.LibDems.org.uk/Livestream
Register for some of the upcoming hustings here: www.LibDems.org.uk/Hustings
Read the candidates election addresses here: www.LibDems.org.uk/Leadership-Election-Addresses
Join the Internal Elections Discussion Group and ask them directly: www.Facebook.com/Groups/LibDemElections

There’s also a link for further information on the election here.

There is a FAQs on the election here, which includes this explanation:

Voting starts on the 30th July. If the party has a working email address for you, then you’ll get a ballot paper emailed to you. Otherwise, you’ll get a paper one posted to you. If you would like to request a paper ballot, you can do that by emailing [email protected].
You can also ask your local membership officer to check what kind of ballot you’re getting via Lighthouse, the party’s membership portal.

The Liberal Democrats Head of Membership, Greg Foster gives a little more detail about the ballot dispatch process here, including this advice if you are a member and have not received either an email ballot or an actual paper ballot by 10am today, Friday 31st July 2020:

What to do if you don’t get your vote

If you haven’t had your vote by 10:00 on Friday 31st July, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team.

You can do this by emailing [email protected] – and we’ll do our best to get back to you within 3 working days (we’ll usually be faster) or you can call us on: 020 7022 0988 between 0930 and 1730, Monday to Friday.

We can either dispatch a replacement ballot paper or provide you with a UVC.

In some rare occasions, people may have been incorrectly excluded from the electoral roll. In these cases and at the Returning Officer’s discretion, members may be issued with a new UVC code.

The reason for the issue will be recorded on a member’s Salesforce profile and will be available for review should there be a concern.

* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.