Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland

Chief Electoral Officer of Northern Ireland
Incumbent
David Marshall
since 7 August 2023
TypeReturning officer

The Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland is the returning officer and electoral registration officer for all elections in Northern Ireland and is in charge of the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland. They also have to make a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland by 16 April each year regarding whether a registration canvass should be conducted, and act as an assessor to the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland and the Local Government Boundaries Commissioner.[1]

Since 7 August 2023, the Chief Electoral Officer is David Marshall.[2][3]

The role was held by Virginia McVea since 1 February 2017, and Graham Shields had previously served as Chief Electoral Officer from late 2010.[4][5]

  1. ^ "Roles and Responsibilities | Electoral Office for Northern Ireland". Archived from the original on 21 February 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  2. ^ "APPOINTMENT OF A NEW CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER FOR NORTHERN IRELAND". GOV.UK. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  3. ^ "NISRA chief appointed new Northern Ireland Chief Electoral Officer". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. 5 June 2023. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  4. ^ "Graham Shields is new NI chief electoral officer". BBC News. 16 July 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
  5. ^ "Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission - Graham Shields". NIHRC. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.