Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I believe, if at all possible, we should have an election on 6 May. But postponing an election would not be unique. Can you remember the general election of 2001 had been expected on 3 May to coincide with local elections? But, on 2 April, votes were postponed to 7 June because of the rural movement restrictions imposed in response to the foot and mouth outbreak that had started in February.

Another possible reason is that post cannot be collected, so postal votes would not be being received—something Rhun ap Iorwerth talked about regarding post when he was making his statement—or post boxes are blocked. People remember postal strikes—when boxes got full, they blocked them. I believe we should have the shortest possible dissolution period for the Senedd ahead of the day of the vote, which will enable the Senedd to meet should this be required to debate and agree new legislation relating to the pandemic, or consider recommendations from the Llywydd to postpone the poll. I would like the dissolution to be 5 o'clock on the Wednesday prior to polling day, thus enabling any new pandemic legislation to be enacted before the election. Before Government lawyers say it is impossible, what legislative changes would be necessary to enable it?

We must remember the US election took place during the pandemic. I'd be very disappointed if the Senedd election could not take place. If the Conservatives postpone the police and crime commissioners and the English council elections, that is no reason for us to postpone the Senedd election. One thing we could request all parties to consider is a return to four-year electoral term—five years is too long. It was brought in for the best of reasons to apply with the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. In my opinion, never has any piece of legislation been more meaningless. This must be the last five-year term.

I now want to turn to action that I'm asking from the Welsh Government: that returning officers write to everyone about the postal vote offering them one. One of the problems with postal votes is their high rejection rate. This is caused by two things: people entering the date of signing rather than their date of birth, and signatures not matching. The proposals are that those who've entered the date they posted not their date of birth are contacted by phone, if possible, to confirm their date of birth; that those with signatures that do not match are contacted to confirm they have returned their ballot. One of the major reasons the signatures don't match is the elector has had health problems, such as a stroke or Parkinson's disease, since they applied for the postal vote, which really does affect people's signatures. We want a fair election where everyone who wants to vote can, and their vote is counted.

Turning to proxy votes, currently students must get a form signed by the course tutor. That, I think people would agree, is almost impossible at the current time. I was fortunate that my daughter did hers back in November; very few people were thinking about the May Senedd elections in November. I would urge the Government to consider legislation to enable direct family members, meaning spouse, parent or child, to have a proxy vote on demand. This is a balance between stopping vote harvesting and allowing the votes of everyone to be counted. 

Finally, regarding the count. I support counting the next day, although I expect to sleep at night between the polling day and the next day. On the count, again, can we learn from America, where the count of votes cast in the ballot book and valid postal votes received by the end of polling day are counted on the Friday, with an extension date for postal votes made if there are problems with their return due to postal problems, and a judge is appointed to determine how long that extension should be? I believe we all want free and fair elections. I hope the Government will take up my suggestions, but, if not, explain why.

And I discovered over the weekend a problem: paying the deposit. They want the deposit paid—in Swansea, at least—by electronic transfer, but it has to happen at exactly the same time as the nomination form is accepted. Now, that, if they follow the strict interpretation, is going to be almost impossible. So, I think that you're going to end up with—. You're queuing—. And we know what happens when putting our nomination papers in. I would urge that the Minister has some discussions with returning officers about that, because I think it is important that people do pay their deposit. I suggested that you paid it before you hand your nomination papers in, but I was told that couldn't happen. I think that we really do need to sort out some of the mechanics of this before things start going wrong.