Elections Acts Amendment Act of 1908 (8 Edw VII No. 5) (Qld)

-9236 EDUCATION-ELECTIONS. Elevtions Avts Amendment Act. 8 Enw. VII. No. 5, - - - - -------- (b) The method of the appointment or election of the managing body thereof; (c) The appointment of all lecturers and teachers; (d) The syllabus of instruction; (e) The methods of exnmination and of the grant- ing of certificates and diplomas; nor unless the College and its records are at all times open to inspection by the Minister or any officer authorised by him. Annual , report. 12. The Minister shall in each year cause to be laid before Parliament a report with respect to the adminis- tration of this Act during the last preceding year. Recover;r ~ nd 13. All penalties for offences against this Act may a o p f ppreonpal' lltaitelsO. n be recovered I.n a summary way, by compIal.n t ' In the name of the Minister, before any two justices of the peace, and when so recovered shall be paid into the College account of the College concerned. ELECTIONS. 8 Edw. VII. No. 5. THE ELECTIONS ACTS AMENDMENT ACT m' 1908. An Act to Amend "The Elections Acts, 1885 to 1905," in certain particulars. [ASSENTED TO 15TH APRIL, 1908.J " B E it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legis- lative Council and Legislative Assembly of Queensland in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows :- Short title 1. This Act shall be read as one with "The Elections aconndstruction Acts, 1885 to 1905,"* herein called "the Consolidated of Act. Acts," and may be cited together with those Acts as "The Elections Acts, 1885 to 1908," or separately as " The Eleotions Aots Amendment Aot of 1908." Discontinu- . 2. (l.) Section twenty-nine of the Consol'idated Acts aadnvceer o t ~ iseee· rfam is repealed • ments. 49 Vic. No. 13; 50 Vie. No. 3; 56 Vie. No. 7; 61 Vie. No. 26; and 62 Vic. No. 14 reprinted, supra, page 7493, and 5 Edw. VII. Ni). 1, supra, page 8700.

ELECTIONS. 1908. Elections .Acts .Amendment .Act. (2.) In section thirty-four of the Consolidated Acts, the words "cause a copy of such list to be published once at least in some newspaper circulating in the District, and also" are repealed. . 9237 Amendment of Provision8 as to Absent Voters. 3. Sections 78Kto 78']', both inclusive, of the Consoli..; Amendment dated Acts , as enacted by" The Elections Acts AmendmentO . 8S f tporoabvsiseinotn. Act of 1905,"* are repealed, and the following sections voters. are respectively inserted in lieu thereof under the following cross-heading and bearing the numbers set against the~ respectively in square brackets:- Absent Voters. 4. [78K.] (l.) Subject to this Act, any elector'who o~ Absentvoters. polling-day during the hours set apart for polling is absent from .the district for which he is enrolled may vote as an absent voter at any polling-place which is not a polling- place for that district. (2.) In every such case the presiding officer at such polling:-place, before giving a ballot-paper to th~ person claiming to vote, shall put to him the questions followingi that is to say- ' : (1) For what Electoral District are you qualified td vote? (2) Have you within the last preceding seven months been bona fide resident within the abovementioned Electoral District for a period of one month? (3) What is your name (Surname and Christian name in full) ? (4) What is your occupation? (5) Where is your usual place of residence? (6) What is your present address? The presiding officer shall then endorse the answers to such questions upon an envelope, and the person claiming to vote shall sign the same, and the presiding officer shall witness such signature. * 5 Edw. VII. No. 1, supra, page 8700.

9238 ELECTIONS. Elections Acts Amendment Act. 8 EDw. VII. No. 5, (3.) Such endorsement shall be in the form following~ that is to say;-- 1. For what Electoral District are you qualified to vote? 2. Have you within the last preceding seven months been bom], fide resident within the abovementioned Electoral District for a period of one month? 3. What is your name (Surname and Christian name in full) ? 4. What is your occupation? 5. Where is your usual place of residence? - -- - ~- - .- - -- - - - ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ - .~ - - - - - - - - - . - - ~ - - - - - - - - - - 6. What is your present address? 7. Polling-place at which claim made I declare the answers to the above questions to be true, and I sign my name knowing that if any of them is false I may be liable to a penalty not exceeding £50. Name in full of Claim , ant Witness: Presiding Officer. . (4.) No person so claiming to vote sball receive a ballot-paper unless or until he has answered the said questions to the satisfaction of the presiding officer, and has signed the said envelope. (5.) The presiding officer shall then, as in other cases, give a ballot-papel' to the person claiming to vote, but shall retain the envelope so endorsed.

ELECTIONS. 9239 1908. Elections Acts Amendment Act. Every such ballot-paper shall be of such material that the voter may effectually conceal the name of the person for whom he has voted, and shall be in the following form:- [F1'ont Page.] [Second Page.] BALLOT-PAPER. How TO VOTE. INSTRUCTIONS- Below write the name of the candidate you vote for. If two members are to be (i.) You must record your vote by chosen, you may write the name of one or writing on the second page of the the names of two candidates. You may ballot-paper the name of the candi- vote contingently if you choose to do so date or the name_ of the candidates by writing the names one below the other for whom you vote. to denote the order of your preference. (ii.) You must then fold up the ballot- paper so as to conceal the name or' names of the candidate or candi- dates, and deliver it to the pre- siding officer. (iii.) The presiding officer must then, withont unfolding the hallot-paper, place it in the envelope which is endorsed with your declaration, and fasten up the envelope. (6.) The voter shall record his vote by writing on the second page of the ballot-paper the name of the candidate or the names of the candidates for whom he votes. For the purposes of cOlltingent voting the voter may write the names of the candidates or of any candidates upon the ballot-paper, one below the other, and the order in which the voter has so written them shall denote the order in which the voter desires the vote or votes to be counted. (7.) When the voter has voted, he shall not himself place the ballot-paper in the ballot-box, hut shall deliver the same, folded up, to the presiding officer, who, without unfolding the same, shall, in the presence of the voter, place the ballot-paper in the said envelope, and after securely fastening the envelope shall place it aside for separate custody. (8.) Any person who wilfully makes a false answer to any of the questions put to him under this section, or fOligns his name upon any envelope, any part of the endorse- ment of' which is to his knowledge false, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds. 5. [78L.] Immediately at the close of the poll, th~ Dnty of presiding officer shall sort all envelopes containing absent p~ siding voters' ballot-papers under their proper electoral districts,O cer. and shall enclose all such envelopes for the same district in an outer envelope, and transmit the same, properly

9240 ELECTIONS. Elections Acts Amendment Act. 8 Enw. VII. No. 5, addressed, by post or otherwise, to the several returning officers of the districts for which the absent voters are respectively enrolled. He shall also inform each such rei"qrning officer, if necessary by telegram, of the number of persons who voted as absent voters for the district concerned. Duty of returning officer. 6. [78M.] When the returning officer receives from presiding officers in other districts the parcels of envelopes: containing absent voters' ballot-papers, he shall, before in any way unfastening any envelopes immediately containing ballot-papers, verify the right to vote of' the several voters: claiming to vote for his district by comparing the endorse~ ments upon the envelopes with the marked roll for his, district in use at the election. If the right of any person to vote is thereby established to his satisfaction, he shall mark upon the envelope the number of the voter appear"": ing on the roll, and shall, without then unfolding the ballot-paper, mark the same number upon the right hand upper corner of the front page of the ballot-paper and fold it down and secure it with gum so that the number is effectually concealed, and shall place such ballot-paper in a ballot-box. He shall set aside for separate custody the envelopes immediately containing the ballot-papers. If the right to vote is not thereby established, he shall reject the vote, but sball not unfasten the envelope. He shall set the same aside for separate custody. , No such ballot-paper shall be allowed at the scrutiny which is not enclosed in an envelope endorsed with the absent voter's declaration. When the returning officer has dealt with all the envelopes in every packet which has been delivered on the same day, he shall open the ballot-box and count the votes as in other cases; and shall so proceed from day to day until all the ballot-papers have come to hand, or until the day on which no further ballot-papers are to be counted. Evid~ nce of 7. [78N.] A sj gnature upon an envelope endorsed v si o g t n er at S ure, &c. W · l tl 1 an a1)sen t voter'sdec1arat·lOn purportm. g to be the signature of a voter shall, upon a scrutiny, without further proof, be pl'inu1 facie evidence that such voter voted at the election as 'an absent voter. The number marked upon the absent voter's envelope and ballot-paper as aforesaid shall, upon a scrutiny, be prima facie evidence that such ballot-paper was issued to and used by the person to whom the same number is assigned upon the roll in use at the election.

ELEOTIONS. ----_._---------- 1908. Eledions Acts Amendment Act. 9241 8 [78p.] Any mistake in spelling of the name of any lliistakes. candidate, where the intention of the voter is clear, shall not render such vote informal. It shall suffice, when no two candidates have the same surname, for the voter to write the surname only of the candidate for whom he votes. 9. [78Q.] Nothing herein contained shall be deemed Saving ~ ppeal to take away the right to appeal to the Elections Tribunal Ttorl ~ b l n e n ct a l l. Ons . from the decision of the returning officer as to the allow- ance or disallowance of an absent voter's vote. 10. (1.) In the second and fourth paragraphs of Amendment section eighty-two of the Consolidated Acts as enacted by of s.82. section eleven of " The Eleotions Acts Amendment Aot of 1905,"* the word" postal," wherever it occurs, is repealed, and the words "absent voters'" are inserted in lieu thereof. In the third paragraph of the said section, the words" a postal" are repealed, and the words "an absent voter's" are inserted in lieu thereof. (2.) In section eighty-three of the Consolidated Acts, Amendment as amended by section eleven of "The Eleotions Acts of s. 83. Amendment Act of 1905,"* the words "certificates and applications" are repealed, and the words" and declara- tions" are inserted in lieu thereof. Assistant Returning Officers. 11. In the definition of "Presiding Officer," in section Amendment five of the Consolidated Acts, the words "appointed by of ss. 5 and 57. him" are repealed, and the words "duly appointed under this Act" are inserted in lieu thereof. In the first paragraph of section fifty-seven of the Consolidated Acts, the words "the other polling-places" are repealed, and the words "all other polling-places except those central polling-places for which assistant returning officers have been appointed as hereinafter pro- vided" are inserted in lieu thereof. 12. Section seventy-nine of the Consolidated Acts is amended as follows :- At the beginning of the said section the three follow- ing subsections are inserted :- "(1.) Whenever it is likely that not more than fifty As.istant votes will respectively be polled at one or more of the returning polling-places amongst several polling-places for a district officers. (herein' called a group), and that the results of the polling for the group will more conveniently be ascertained at one central polling-place, the Governor in Council may * 5 Edw. VII. No. 1, 8' ~ p' l' a, page 8700.

9242 ELECTIONS. Elections Acts Amendment Act. 8 Enw. VII. No. 5, Duty of presiding officer of group. Duty of assistant returning officer appoint a person to act at such central polling-place as assistant returning officer. Such officer shall also act as and be dAemed for all purposes to be the presiding officer at such central polling~ place. (2.) Every presiding officer at the several polling- places of the group shall, at the close of the poll, in the 'presence of the poll clerk, if any, and of such of the candidates and scrutineers as may attend, make up in one parcel the ballot-box unopenAd, and in another parcel the roll supplied to him by the returning officer (which shall be signed by him and the poll clerk, if any) and all books and papers used by him during the polling, and in another parcel all ballot-papers set aside for separate custody as aforesaid (other than absent voters' ballot-papers), and shall seal up such parcels and permit the same to be sealed by the scrutineers present if they so desire, and shall, with the least possible delay, deliver such parcels, 01' cause them to be delivered, to the assistant returning officer at the central polling-place of the group. . (3.) Every assistant returning officer shall, as soon as possible after he has received the sealed parcels so trans- mitted to him, open the several sealed parcels containing the ballot-boxes, and shall mix the ballot-papers taken at his own polling-place with all the ballot-papers contained in the said ballot-boxes, and shall thereupon, in the presence of his poll clerk, if any, and of such of the candidates and scrutineers as may attend, examine and count the number of votes received for each candidate at all the said polling- places, and shall make out a written statement, signed by himself and countersigned by his poll clerk, if any, and by any scrutineers who are present and consent to sign the same, containing the aggregate number in words and figures of the votes received for each candidate so counted as aforesaid; and, after making out and signing such state~ ment, shall make up in one parcel all the ballot-papers so counted as aforesaid, and all the ro~ ls, books, and papers kept and used by him and the said presiding officers during the polling (his own roll being signed by him and the poll clerk, if any), and in another parcel all ballot-papers set aside for separate custody by him and the said presiding officers (other than absent voters' ballot-papers), and shall seal up such parcels, and permit the same to be sealed by the scrutineers present if they so desire, and shall, with the least possible delay, deliver such parcels andstatemeIlt or cause them to be delivered to the r,eturning officer; and

ELECTIONS. 9248 1908. Elections Acts Amendment Act. :shall by the next practicable opportunity thereafter also transmit a duplicate of such statement signed and counter- signed as aforesaid." The words "Every presiding officer" at the beginning {)f the section are repealed, and the following words are inserted in lieu thereof, namely:- "(4.) At every polling-place in respect of which an assistant returning officer has not been appointed the pre- siding officer" 13. The first and second paragraphs of section eighty- Amendment {)ne of the Consolidated Acts are repealed, and the follow- of 8. 81. ing provisions are inserted in lieu thereof:- "As soon as possible after the returning officer has received from the several assistant returning officers and presiding officers the sealed parcels so transmitted to him, eontaining the ballot-papers counted at the central polling- places and other polling-places outside a group :respec- tively, and the several statements of the number of votes so transmitted by them, he shall from his own and such other statements ascertain the gross number of votes for each candidate, and shall also, in the presence of his poll elerk (if any) and of such candidates and scrutineers as may attend, open such sealed parcels, and examine arid eount the number of votes for each candidate at each eentral polling-place and other polling-place outside a group, and in mariner hereinbefore prescribed examine and count the votes received from absent voters; and, after havin-g counted the same, shall make up in separate parcels the ballot-papers, rolls, books, and papers received from each assistant returning officer and presiding officer, and the absent voters' ballot-papers and declarations in like manner as hereinbefore required concerning the ballot-papers, rolls, books, ana papers kept and used by him at his own polling-place, and shall seal ilp, and also permit to be sealed up by the scrutineers, and shall endorse in like manner as aforesaid, the said several parcels, and deal with the same as hereinafter provided. " Tha returning officer shall also make out, in respect of ea<'h central polling-place and other polling-place outside a group, a like written statement, signed and countersigned as hereinbefore required, concerning his own polling-place." 14 In subsection one of section one hundred and.Amendment twenty of the Consolidated Acts, after the words "return- of s. 120. ing officer," the words" or assistant returning officer" are inserted. c