Examination of voting papers for declaration voting
63 Examination of voting papers for declaration voting
(1) An authorised officer must examine each unopened envelope containing a declaration ballot paper.
(2) If it appears from the declaration that an envelope contains a vote for an election for another local government area, the authorised officer must send the unopened envelope to an authorised officer for the relevant area for determination whether the vote should be admitted to the count for that area or a ward within that area.
(3) The authorised officer must admit the envelope to the scrutiny if the returning officer is satisfied that:
the declaration on the envelope is properly signed; and
the person who made the declaration is entitled to vote and:
(i) the person does not appear to have voted more than once at the election; or
(ii) in the case of a person marked as having already voted – there is a reasonable possibility that the mark was inserted in error.
(4) In deciding under subregulation (3)(b) whether a person who made a declaration is entitled to vote, the authorised officer may have regard to an electoral roll or extract as in force at an earlier time and any other matters the officer considers appropriate.
(5) When the authorised officer admits a declaration envelope to the scrutiny, the authorised officer must:
make a record of:
(i) the fact that the voter has voted by placing a mark against the voter's name on an electoral roll or in some other appropriate way; or
(ii) in the case of a person whose name is not on an electoral roll but who the authorised officer is satisfied is entitled to vote in accordance with Part VIII of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) – that entitlement in some appropriate way; and
take the ballot paper out of the envelope; and
(c) place the envelope in a parcel with all other envelopes from which ballot papers have been taken under paragraph (b).
(5) If the authorised officer is not satisfied of the matters mentioned in subregulation (3), the officer must:
(a) exclude the ballot paper from further scrutiny without opening the envelope in which it is contained; and
place the unopened envelopes in a parcel.
(6) The authorised officer must seal the parcels mentioned in subregulations (4)(c) and (5)(b) and endorse on each parcel a statement of its contents.
A candidate's scrutineer may sign a sealed parcel.
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