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Municipalities.

close at seven o'clock in the afternoon of the same day. Every person entitled to vote at the election of a councillor or councillors may at such election give as many votes as he is entitled to, to each of any number of persons not exceeding the number of persons to be elected. Every person entitled to vote at the election of a mayor or auditors, or an auditor, may, at the election of a mayor, give as many votes as he is entitled to to any one candidate, and, at the election of auditors or an auditor may give as many votes as he is entitled to to each of as many candidates as there are vacancies to be filled up.

Ballot papers to be

101. (1.) EXCEPT as hereinafter mentioned, every person who is qualified and entitled to vote, and is desirous of voting at any such given to persons election, shall present himself to the returning officer, and shall state applying. his name and address, and if such returning officer finds that the Ibid., s. 68. name of such person is on the electoral rolls, he may ask such person the questions hereinafter mentioned, and if such questions are answered satisfactorily, or if such questions are dispensed with, the returning officer or poll clerk shall make a mark against the name of such person on the electoral lists or rolls to signify that the ballot paper or ballot papers to which such person is entitled has or have been duly given to him, and deliver to such person so many ballot papers for the election of mayor, or councillor or councillors, or auditor or auditors respectively, as are equal to the number of votes which such person appears by the electoral lists or rolls to be entitled to give at such elections respectively.

(2.) All the ballot papers to which any person is entitled at such election shall be received by him at one and the same time: And no person, having once received any such ballot paper or ballot papers, and voted, shall at the same election receive any other ballot paper or ballot papers, or exercise any further right of voting.

Manner of voting ballot.

102. EVERY person to whom a ballot paper or ballot papers have been given shall, within the ballot room or compartment, and without leaving the same, strike through the names of all persons Ibid., s. 69. named in such ballot paper or ballot papers except the names of each person for whom he intends to vote, and shall then fold up each paper so as to conceal the interior and disclose the initials of the returning officer upon the back thereof, and shall then in the presence of the returning officer, poll clerks, and such scrutineers as are in attendance, deposit such ballot paper or ballot papers in the ballot box: Provided always, that in the case of any person who is afflicted with blindness or defective eyesight, the returning officer shall, in the presence of such scrutineers as are then in attendance, strike through each ballot paper the names of all persons except such as such person declares his intention of voting for.

103.

Questions at elections previous to

making voters' roll.

See ibid., s. 70.

Local Government
Act (Vic.), s. 128.

Municipalities.

103. AT every election of mayor, councillors, and auditors. when there is no voters' roll in force, the returning officer shall put to every person tendering his vote the questions following:-

(1.) What is your name in full; are you a British subject,
and are you of the full age of twenty-one?

(2.) Are you the occupier or owner, and which, of ratable
land within this municipality (or ward, as the
case may be) and liable to be rated for such land
under the Municipal Institutions Act, 1900?
(3.) What is the ratable land in respect of which you
claim to vote, and the name and situation thereof?

(4.) Have you already voted at this present election?

And no other question shall be put to any person tendering his vote, and no person who shall refuse to answer any of such questions, or whose answers to the same shall not show his right to give such vote, shall receive a ballot paper, or ballot papers, or be permitted to vote.

104. AT all elections of mayor, councillors, or auditors, where Questions to be put there is a voters' roll in force, the returning officer may, if he see fit, if required so to do by any scrutineer, shall put to any person tendering his vote the questions following:

to voter at all other elections.

59 Vict., No. 10, s. 70.

Local Government
Act (Vic.), s. 129.

Provisions with respect to ballot paper

inadvertently spoilt. 59 Viet., No. 10, s. 71.

(1.) Are you the person whose name appears as A.B. in the roll now in force for this municipality (or ward. as the case may be) being enrolled therein in respect of land described to be situated in (here specify the street or other place described in the roll)?

(2.) Have you already voted at the present election? And no other question shall be put to any person tendering his vote, and no person who shall refuse to answer any of such questions, or who shall not answer the first of such questions absolutely in the affirmative, and the second of such questions absolutely in the negative, shall receive a ballot paper or ballot papers or be permitted

to vote.

105. A VOTER at such election who has inadvertently dealt with any ballot paper in such a manner that it cannot conveniently Or properly be used as a ballot paper may, on delivering to the returning officer the ballot paper so inadvertently dealt with, and proving the fact of the inadvertence to the satisfaction of the returning officer, obtain another ballot paper in the place of the ballot paper so delivered up; and the said ballot paper shall be cancelled and destroyed, and a memorandum of such cancellation and destruction indorsed on the counterfoil thereof.

106.

Municipalities.

Voting in absence in

See ibid., s. 72.

Conference minutes.

106. (1.) WHENEVER at any election a person entitled to vote is desirous of voting and is resident in the Colony but more than certain cases. ten miles distant from the place of such election, it shall be lawful for such person, at any time within one month previous to the date of such election, to go before a Resident or Police Magistrate or Justice of the Peace or postmaster, or some other person duly appointed by the Governor by notice in the Government Gazette Eighth Schedule. as a person authorised to take votes at elections, and demand to be allowed to vote for the municipality or ward of municipality for which he is qualified to vote as aforesaid, and the said Resident or Police Magistrate or Justice of the Peace or postmaster or appointee as aforesaid shall then write the name of the municipality or ward of municipality for which such person desires to vote, and also the name and address of such person, and the date on two counterfoils, each of which shall be marked by the same number, and shall, having signed his name on the back of a voting paper, give the same to such elector and on the face of such voting paper the Resident Magistrate or Police Magistrate or Justice of the Peace or postmaster or appointee as aforesaid, shall write simply the name of the municipality, and if necessary the ward of such municipality for which the voter proposes to vote, and on the back shall be a number corresponding to the number upon the aforesaid counterfoils: and the voter having received the said paper, shall write thereon the name of the candidate or candidates, specifying whether for the office of mayor, councillor or mayor, councillor or councillors, auditor or auditors for whom he votes, and shall then fold it up, and in the presence of the said Resident or Police Magistrate, Justice of the Peace, postmaster, or appointee as aforesaid, shall then put one of the corresponding counterfoils into a separate envelope, and shall seal up such envelope, and shall write the word "Counterfoil" on both sides thereof, and shall put the voting paper into another envelope and seal it up, and write the word voting paper on both sides thereof, and shall then himself send both envelopes enclosed together in a second envelope, by post or otherwise, to the returning officer.

(2.) The returning officer, on receipt of any such envelopes, shall, without opening them, retain them in his possession until the commencement of the poll, and shall at any convenient time or times, during or immediately after the taking of the poll in the presence of the scrutineers, proceed to open the envelopes containing the counterfoils, and having made a mark on the copy of the electoral roll in use at his polling place, against the name of each person who appears by such counterfoils to have voted, shall keep such counterfoils in the same manner as the counterfoils of the ballot papers used by him at such election. Having thus dealt with the counterfoils, the returning officer shall proceed to open the envelopes containing the voting papers, allowing the scrutineers the opportunity

(if

Ascertainment of the

poll.

Ibid., s. 75.

Municipalities.

(if they desire it) of seeing that the seals of the said envelopes are intact: and as he takes out any voting paper from its envelope, he shall, without opening the same, deposit it in the ballot box.

(3.) Any person who shall have been to a Resident or Police Magistrate, or Justice of the Peace, or postmaster, or appointee as aforesaid, for the purpose of voting under this section, and shall have complied with the provisions of this section, shall be deemed to all intents and purposes to have voted at such election, although the said envelopes or either of them may not have been sent to the returning officer, or although they or either of them have miscarried.

(4.) For all subsequent purposes, the returning officer shall treat any counterfoils and voting papers received in accordance with the provisions of this section in the same way that he is required to treat counterfoils of ballot papers given by himself to voters, and ballot papers received by himself from voters. The voting papers and counterfoils to be used under this section shall be in the form given in the Schedule hereto.

(5.) Any voting paper, in the form prescribed in the Eighth Schedule, shall be and shall be held to be in due and proper form so far as a name of a candidate is concerned, provided the name of a candidate for whom the voter desires to vote be lawfully indicated as aforesaid.

107. (1.) THE returning officer, on the closing of the poll at any election, shall, in the presence of such candidates and scrutineers as are then in attendance, open the ballot boxes and examine the ballot papers and voting papers, and thereby ascertain the result of the election. And in so doing the returning officer may reject as null and void any ballot paper on which is written any matter or thing which is not justified by this Act to be written thereon, or any ballot paper or voting paper by which any voter purports to vote for more candidates than he is entitled to vote for, or to give more votes than he is entitled to give, and any voting paper whereon the name or names of the candidate or candidates, as the case may be, for whom the voter votes is not intelligibly expressed and in a manner to be commonly understood, but no voting paper shall be otherwise rejected for mere want of form, and if any voter entitled to more than one vote omits to specify on his voting paper the number of votes to which he is entitled, such voting paper shall be deemed to have one vote specified thereon; and the returning officer shall indorse on any ballot-paper or voting paper which he rejects, the word "rejected, and the returning officer shall be the sole judge as to whether any ballot paper or voting paper shall be rejected or not: Provided always, that his decision shall be subject to reversal by the Supreme Court.

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(2.)

Municipalities.

(2.) The returning officer, having ascertained the respective results of such poll, shall then and there declare the name or names of the person or persons who have been duly elected to the respective offices for which such election has been held; and in the event of the number of votes being equal for any two or more candidates for such respective offices, such returning officer shall, by his casting vote or votes, decide which of the said candidates shall be elected.

Disposal of ballot

papers.

Ibid., s. 79, slightly

108. THE returning officer shall, after the declaration of the poll, cause all the parcels of ballot and voting papers to be sealed up, indorsed with a description of the contents thereof, and delivered to the town clerk, to be safely kept for six months after such altered. delivery, and such town clerk shall, after the expiration of six months, cause such papers to be destroyed in the presence of three of the councillors.

Publication of result

109. THE town clerk shall, after every election for the office of mayor, councillor, or auditor, make a return to the Minister, stating of elections in the names of the successful candidate or candidates at such election, Government Gazette. and their respective offices, for publication in the Government Ibid., s. 76. Gazette, and the production of a copy of the Government Gazette containing any such notice shall be prima facie evidence that the person or persons named therein have been duly elected to fill the respective offices therein mentioned.

polling in case of

110. WHEN the proceedings at any election are interrupted or obstructed by any riot or violence, the returning officer shall Adjournment of not finally close the poll, but shall adjourn the taking of such poll riot. until the day following, and if necessary, shall further adjourn such Ibid., s. 77. poll until such interruption or obstruction has ceased, when such Local Government returning officer shall again proceed with the taking of such poll. Act (Vic.), s. 132.

Adjournment, when

111. IF from any cause not being such as in the last preceding section mentioned, after a poll stands appointed for any from some cause no election, no such election takes place on the day appointed for the election held. same, the election shall stand adjourned until the same day of the Local Government following week, and the returning officer shall give not less than Act (Vic.), s. 133. three days' previous notice thereof by advertisement or by placards affixed in public places within the municipality.

112. NO election shall be deemed to be void in consequence Errors of form not to solely of any delay of any of the stages of such election beyond vitiate elections. the time appointed, or of any error on the part of the returning Ibid., s. 78. officer, which does not affect the result of such election, or of any error, defect, or impediment of a merely formal nature; and the Governor may adopt, or cause to be adopted, such measures as are neces

sary

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