The Electoral Office is preparing for the possibility of a snap Stormont Assembly election being held in December.
A letter has been sent to venues which may be used as polling stations advising that the vote "if called could be either on the 8th or 15th December 2022".
The chief electoral officer said the correspondence is part of their "contingency planning" and no guidance has been received from the Northern Ireland Office on any announcement.
Read more: DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson insists Union has not been weakened by Queen's death
Virginia McVea told Belfast Live they need to check the availability of schools and other venues to avoid a clash with Christmas events, such as nativity plays.
She said: "We're not full-tilt in election mode but we're checking if there's a difficulty for any of our polling places or our staff just in case."
Stormont's power-sharing institutions have been in limbo for months with the DUP blocking their restoration in protest over Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol.
If there is still no new devolved government formed by October 28, the Secretary of State will be required under legislation to call a snap election within the subsequent 12 weeks.
It means there could be a snap Assembly election by mid-January 2023 at the latest.
Ms McVea said December 8 or 15 are "just possible dates".
She said: "We all know that there could well be, and we just have to make sure that premises might be available. So we're just scoping.
"If we do end up on October 28 and we're getting very close there's always the possibility of before Christmas."
Ms McVea said there were logistical challenges when a snap Westminster election was called in December 2019.
"In 2019, there was a lot of difficulty because for the unscheduled election, if you hit December, primary schools and even outside of that, you had a lot of community centres doing nativity plays and Christmas events," she said.
She added: "It's just contingency planning. We don't know anything. We're just looking at if it's going to be before Christmas.
"Particularly in that vacuum I don't want to leave it that you have a particularly mad scramble at the end of October."
Ms McVea also said they are considering whether to use the Meadowbank Sports Arena in Magherafelt, Co Derry, as a count centre this time if an election is held in the winter.
She said the venue is "normally particularly cold, and we have put in heating previously" but there are concerns over the impact of rising energy bills.
McVea added: "I'm happy to say that I can advise you formally that I have received no notification that an election is going to happen and we are simply trying to check in, because contingencies are needed."
She said the preparations were to ensure that "if any election is called, whenever it is called, we will be in a position to serve the public and administer it".
The Northern Ireland Office has been approached for comment.
READ NEXT:
- NI secretary wants to 'deliver enough pressure' to restore Stormont and fix Brexit Protocol
- 10-year stalemate over Maze prison site redevelopment 'a monument to political failure'
- Review proposes Stormont policy change after row over Queen's Platinum Jubilee tree
- No action to be taken over Sinn Féin Irish-language road signs, Stormont department says
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here. To sign up to our FREE newsletters, see here.
