from voting at elections for the more numerous House of the Parliament of the State, then, in reckoning the number of people of the State or of the Commonwealth, persons of that race resident in that State shall not be counted. Representatives in first Parliament. 26. Notwithstanding anything in section twentyfour, the number of members to be chosen34 in each State at the first election shall be as follows: Provided that if Western Australia is an Original State, the numbers shall be as follows: New South Wales Victoria Queensland South Australia .. Western Australia twenty-six ; nine; seven; five; § 34. "THE NUMBER OF MEMBERS CHOSEN IN EACH STATE." In the last redistribution of seats under the Representation Act 1905, made in the year 1911, the following members were assigned to the several States. Alteration of number of members. 27. Subject to this Constitution, the Parliament may make laws for increasing or diminishing the number of the members of the House of Representatives. Duration of House of Representatives. 28. Every House of Representatives shall continue for three years from the first meeting of the House, and no longer, but may be sooner dissolved by the Governor-General. Electoral divisions. 29. Until the Parliament of the Commonwealth otherwise provides, the Parliament of any State may make laws for determining the divisions35 in each State for which members of the House of Representatives may be chosen, and the number of members to be chosen for each division. A division shall not be formed out of parts of different States. In the absence of other provision, each State shall be one electorate. § 35. "DIVISIONS IN EACH STATE." LEGISLATION. COMMONWEALTH ELECTORAL ACT 1902-1911, SECTIONS 12-23. COMMONWEALTH ELECTORAL ACT 1918, SECTIONS 15-25. Each State is distributed into electoral divisions, equal in number to the number of members of the House of Representatives to be chosen for the State and one member is chosen for each division. The work of distributing a State into divisions under the Act is assigned to "distribution commissioners," one of them is the Chief Electoral Officer or an officer having similar qualifications and if his services are obtainable, one must be the Surveyor-General of the State or an officer having similar qualifications. For the purposes of the Act the Chief Electoral Officer whenever necessary ascertains a quota for each State; the whole number of electors in each State is divided by the number of members of the House of Representatives to be chosen for the State. In making any proposed distribution of a State into Divisions the Distribution Commissioners shall give due consideration to— (a) Community or diversity of interest. (b) Means of communication, (c) Physical features, (d) Existing boundaries of Divisions and Subdivisions, (e) State electoral boundaries; and subject thereto the quota of electors shall be the basis for the distribution, and the Distribution Commissioners may adopt a margin of allowance, to be used whenever necessary, but in no case shall the quota be departed from to a greater extent than one-fifth more or one-fifth less. Qualification of electors. 30. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the qualification of electors36 of members of the House of Representatives shall be in each State that which is prescribed by the law of the State as the qualification of electors of the more numerous House of Parliament of the State; but in the choosing of members each elector shall vote only once. § 36. "QUALIFICATION OF ELECTORS." LEGISLATION. COMMONWEALTH FRANCHISE ACT 1902. COMMONWEALTH WAR TIME ELECTORAL ACT 1917. The qualifications of electors of members of the House of Representatives are the same as those required for electors of senators, viz., manhood and womanhood suffrage, or during the war, and for three years thereafter, membership of the Forces as defined by War Time Electoral Act 1917; natural born or naturalized British subjects; six months' continuous residence in Australia, enrolment on the electoral roll for the electoral division in which they reside. The disqualifications are the same as those of a Senate elector: see notes to section 8, p. 240. The War Time Electoral Act 1917 provides that subject to certain exceptions, every naturalized British subject who was born in an enemy country shall be disqualified for voting at Commonwealth elections during the war or within six months thereafter. But a person claiming to vote who was a natural born citizen or subject of France, Italy or Denmark, and who arrived in Australia before the date upon which the territory in which he was born became part of Germany or Austria, as the case may be, he is not deemed to have been born in an enemy country, if he produces to the electoral officer a certificate in the prescribed form. The foregoing disabilities do not, however, apply to prevent any of the following persons from voting: (a) any member of the forces who is serving outside Australia; (b) any person who is or has been a member of the forces or who has applied for enlistment as a member of the forces and who has been rejected as medically unfit for service or who is a parent or the wife, brother or sister of a person or who is or has been a member of the forces or of a person who has so applied and has been rejected; (c) any person who satisfies the presiding officer that he is a Christian and is either an Assyrian or an Armenian. Application of State laws. 31. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, but subject to this Constitution, the laws in force in each State for the time being relating to elections for the more numerous House of the Parliament of the State shall, as nearly as practicable, apply to elections 37 in the State of members of the House of Representatives. $37."ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES." LEGISLATION. COMMONWEALTH ELECTORAL ACT 1902-1911. COMMONWEALTH ELECTORAL WAR TIME ACT 1917. COMMONWEALTH ELECTORAL ACT 1918. These earlier Acts, now consolidated in the Act of 1918, provided for the appointment of a Chief Electoral Officer for the Commonwealth, a Commonwealth Electoral Officer for each State, returning officers, electoral registrars and other officers. Each State was distributed into electoral divisions equal in number to the members L. P. 17 of the House of Representatives to be chosen therein and there was to be one member of the House of Representatives chosen in each electoral division. Rolls of the electors enrolled in each division in each State were to be prepared and printed. Arrangements were made for the enrolment of voters, the issue of the writs, the conduct of elections; voting by post, absent voting, proceeding on the day of polling; vote by secret ballot in the polling booths; counting the votes; return of the writs; limitation of election expenses incurred by candidates-£250 in a Senate election and £100 in a House election; the prohibition of certain acts, such as bribery, treating, undue influence and the creation of a Court of Disputed Returns. In 1911 the whole of Part X. of the principal Act relating to voting by post was repealed. The Electoral Act 1902-11 remained in force till it was superseded by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Consolidated). This Act restored voting by post and introduced a system of preferential voting, that is, voting for candidates in the order of preference indicated by the figures 1, 2, 3, etc., in connection with elections for the House of Representatives. The method of voting in elections for the House of Representatives, as amended by section 124 of the Act of 1918, is as follows: In a House of Representatives election a voter shall mark his vote on his ballot-paper as follows: (a) where his ballot-paper is a ballot-paper in accordance with Form F in the Schedule-he shall place the number 1 in the square opposite the name of the candidate for whom he votes as his first preference, and shall give contingent votes for all the remaining candidates by placing the numbers 2, 3, 4 (and so on, as the case requires) in the squares opposite their names so as to indicate the order of his preference for them; (b) where he votes at a polling place on polling day in accordance with the regulations relating to absent votinghe shall mark his vote on his ballot-paper in the manner prescribed by those regulations; and (c) where he votes by post under the provisions of Part XII. of the Act-he shall mark his vote on his ballot-paper |