Commonwealth Electoral Regulations (Cth)

Commonwealth of Australia.

Department of Home Affairs,

Melbourne, 19th October, 1903.

REGULATIONS UNDER THE COMMONWEALTH ELECTORAL ACT 1902.

H

IS Excellency the Governor-General, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, in pursuance of the powers conferred upon him by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1902, has been pleased to make the following Regulations.

JOHN FORREST,

Minister of State for Home Affairs.

_____

Definition.

1. In these regulations “the Act” means the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1902.

Sale of Electoral Rolls.

2.  Electoral rolls for all divisions in a State shall be kept for sale at the Government Printing Office of the State.

3.         The Electoral rolls for a division and the parts of those rolls relating to the different polling places for the division shall be kept for sale at the office of the Returning Officer and at such post-offices in the division as the Returning Officer directs.

1. A notice shall be posted up at each post-office where rolls are sold, to the effect following :—

“Electoral Rolls for the Division of can be obtained here.”

5. The prices at which rolls are sold shall be as follows :—

s.	d.
Roll for any one polling place ...............................	1	0
Roll for a complete division ..................................	5	0

Supply of Nomination Forms.

1. A candidate will, on application to the Returning Officer, be supplied with six (6) forms of Nomination Paper free of cost.

Same Polling Booth may be used for two Elections.

1. Where an election for the Senate and an election for the House of Representatives is held on the same day, the same polling booth and ballot-box may be used for both elections, but in such case the ballot-papers must be differently coloured, those for the Senate election being white, and those for the House of Representatives election being pink.

Ballot-box for Postal Votes.

1. The Returning Officer shall keep at the chief polling place a box marked with the name of the division and the words “Postal Ballot-box,” and shall place all postal ballot-papers received in that box, and carefully preserve them until the scrutiny.

Facilities for Voting.

(i.) At any polling place for a division.

9. If an elector is absent on polling day from the polling place for which he is enrolled, he may, in the case of elections for the Senate, as well as in the case of elections for the House of Representatives, vote at any other polling place for the division for which he is enrolled, if he makes and signs before the Presiding Officer a declaration in the form Q to the Act.

1. The Presiding Officer shall, before he allows any person to vote pursuant to the last preceding regulation, satisfy himself that the name of the person claiming so to vote is on the electoral roll for the division, and may, if he thinks fit, and shall, at the request of any scrutineer, put to the person claiming to vote the questions prescribed by section 141 of the Act.

1. If the person is allowed to vote his ballot-paper shall be placed in the ballot-box for the polling place, and shall be dealt with in the same manner as the other ballot-papers placed therein.

(ii.) At any polling place in the State other than for the Division.

1. If, in the case of an election for the Senate or for the House of Representatives, an elector is absent on polling day from the division for which he is enrolled, he may, subject to the following provisions, vote at any polling place in the State, outside the division for which he is enrolled, which is presided over by a Returning Officer or Assistant Returning Officer :—

(a) The person claiming to vote must state his name, his place of living and occupation, and the division and polling place for which he is enrolled.

(b) The officer may, if he thinks fit, and shall at the request of any scrutineer, put to the person claiming to vote the questions prescribed by section 141 of the Act.

(c) If the person claiming to vote answers the questions satisfactorily, or if no questions are put to him, the officer shall hand to him a ballot-paper with a counterfoil attached, in the form specified in the next following Regulation.

(d) The person claiming to vote shall then correctly fill in in writing the blank spaces in the declaration on the counterfoil, and then sign it, and insert under his signature his place of living and occupation, and declare to the truth of the declaration. The officer shall then fill in and sign the attestation to the declaration. If the person claiming to vote is illiterate the officer may fill in any particulars for him, but the person claiming to vote must sign the declaration.

(e) The person claiming to vote shall then retire into an unoccupied polling compartment, mark his vote on the ballot-paper, and then fasten the ballot-paper so that the vote cannot be seen without unfastening it or tearing off the margin. He shall then hand the ballot-paper to the officer, who shall forthwith enclose it in an envelope and forward it to the Returning Officer for the Division for which the voter states he is enrolled, and immediately after the close of the poll he shall advise the Returning Officer, by telegraph or other expeditious manner, of the number of votes received under this regulation.

1. The ballot-paper to be used shall be in the ordinary form, except—

(a) It shall have a margin partly separated from the rest of the paper by perforations, and the margin shall be gummed so as to enable the ballot-paper, when folded, to be readily and securely fastened and the vote concealed.

(b) The names of the candidates may be written instead of printed thereon.

(c) It shall have a counterfoil attached, on which the following words are printed :—

Counterfoil.

Commonwealth of Australia.

I declare that I am the person whose name appears as (¹) on the Electoral Roll for the Electoral Division of (²) to vote at (³)

Polling Place, and that I have not voted here or at any other Polling Place at this election, and I promise and declare that, if I am permitted to vote here, I will not vote at this election at any other Polling Place.

Signature of elector—

Place of living—

Occupation—

Declared before me the 19, at (⁴) day of Polling

Place

(⁵)

(⁶)

(¹) Here insert name of elector and his number on Commonwealth Roll if it can be given.

(²) Here insert name of Division for which elector is enrolled.

(³) Here insert name of Polling Place for which elector is enrolled.

(⁴) Here insert name of Polling Place where declaration is taken.

(⁵) Returning Officer or Assistant Returning Officer to sign here.

(⁶) Here insert “Returning Officer for the Electoral Division ofor assistant Returning Officer for the Electoral

Division of   ,” as the case may be.

1. The Returning Officer shall examine all ballot-papers received by him, pursuant to these regulations, and if it appears to him that the person whose name is signed on the counterfoil is not on the roll for the division, or that some person has already voted in the name signed on the counterfoil, he shall reject the ballot-paper. If he decides to accept the ballot-paper he shall tear off the counterfoil and place the ballot-paper in a ballot-box. All counterfoils and rejected ballot-papers shall be sealed up and preserved by the Returning Officer. The ballot-box containing the ballot-papers shall be shaken up, and the ballot-papers may then be taken out and dealt with in the same manner as other ballot-papers.

Forwarding of Marked Lists.

1. Every Presiding Officer shall, forthwith after the close of the poll, forward to the officer who is to conduct the scrutiny of the ballot-papers received at the polling place at which he presided—

(a) A marked list of voters enrolled for that polling place, showing those who voted at the election; and

(b) A statement of the number of persons enrolled to vote at other polling places who voted at that polling place after making the declaration in form Q to the Act.

Comparison of Ballot-papers with Marked List.

16. The number of ballot-papers in each ballot-box must be carefully compared with the number of votes shown by the marked list of voters and statement received from the Presiding Officer to have been given at the polling place from which the ballot-box was received.

Counting of Votes from Small Polling Places.

1. Except in case of the last ballot-box to be counted, where there are less than 100 ballot-papers in a ballot-box, the scrutiny of those ballot-papers shall not be proceeded with until at least 100 ballot-papers are ready for counting.

Sealing up of Ballot-papers.

1. All ballot-papers shall, after the scrutiny is completed, be scaled up by the officer who conducted the scrutiny. Assistant Returning Officers shall then transmit all the ballot-papers sealed up by them to the Returning Officer for the Division, who shall transmit them and all other ballot-papers to the Commonwealth Electoral Officer for the State, who shall deal with them in accordance with Section 159 of the Act.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Printed and Published for the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia by Robt. S. Brain,

Government Printer for the State of Victoria.