sopn-publish-date

Given the polling day of an election in the UK, when should the Statement of Persons Nominated (SoPN) should be published?

This is a non-trivial question, depending on:

• type of election
• country
• calendars and bank holidays

Even then, it's fuzzy - if a candidate objects to their nomination, that can delay SoPN publication up to the next day.

This project answers when a SoPN should be published, but that is not a guarantee that it will be.

Usage

sopn_publish_date defines a class StatementPublishDate with two functions:

• for_id takes a string election_id in uk-election-ids format and:

  • Returns a datetime where the location of the election is unambiguous e.g. Scottish Parliamentary elections
  • Throws an exception where the location of the election is ambiguous e.g. local, parl

• for_country takes a string country and a datetime and:

  • Returns a datetime where the country is in the united kingdom
  • Throws an exception where the country is unknown

Examples:

from sopn_publish_date import StatementPublishDate
from datetime import datetime

sopn_publish_date = StatementPublishDate()

# Taking an id
sopn_publish_date.for_id('nia.belfast-east.2017-03-02')

# Taking a country and date
sopn_publish_date.for_country('scotland', datetime(2019, 2, 23))

Test

python -m pytest -v

Sources

The bank holidays JSON is provided by gov.uk under the Open Government Licence

Todo

Election types:

• Local
• Parliament
• Scottish Parliament
• National Assembly for Wales
• Northern Irish Assembly
• Mayoral
• EU parliament
• Greater London Assembly
• Police and Crime commissioner

Calendars:

• England + Wales
• Scotland
• Northern Ireland
• Fixed-date bank holidays e.g. royal weddings

Useful Links (delete pre-1.0)

• Association of Electoral Administrators review of May 2016 elections (Appendix D contains full timetabling for all concurrent elections)
• TheyWorkForYou/Hansard: Lord Roberts of Llandudno on overseas voting

Relevant Legislation

• The Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 - timetables for mayoral elections (schedule 1, Timetable)
• The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections Order 2012 - timetables for police and crime commissioner elections (schedule 1, Timetable)
• Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962 and The Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 2010 - timetables for local elections in Northern Ireland
• The Greater London Authority Elections Rules 2007 - timetables for London Assembly and Mayor of London.