Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1) The directions
prescribed by this section for regulating voting by means of early ballot
papers, whether within or outside the State, shall be complied with.
(1a) Subsection (2)
applies if an elector is issued with an early ballot paper under
section 90(4)(c).
(2)(a) The elector
shall complete the declaration and exhibit his early ballot paper, unmarked,
to an authorised witness.
(b) The
authorised witness shall sign his name in his own handwriting on the
declaration in the space provided for the purpose and shall add the date he so
signs and his address as at that date.
(c) The
elector shall in the presence of the authorised witness indicate his vote on
the early ballot paper in the manner prescribed by section 128, but so that
the witness shall not see the vote.
(d) The
elector shall fold the ballot paper and in the presence of the authorised
witness put it in the envelope marked “ballot paper”, and fasten
the envelope.
(e) The
elector shall enclose the declaration duly completed and the envelope marked
“ballot paper” and its contents in the envelope addressed to the
Electoral Commissioner and fasten the envelope.
(f) The
elector shall, before the close of the poll, post or deliver the envelope, or
cause it to be posted or delivered, to the Electoral Commissioner.
(3) If an elector is
issued with an early ballot paper under section 90(4b) —
(a) the
elector shall, if issued with a declaration under section 90(4c)(b), complete
the declaration before the issuing officer and return it to the officer; and
(b) the
elector shall indicate the elector’s vote on the early ballot paper in
the manner prescribed by section 128, but so that neither the issuing officer
nor any other person can see the vote; and
(c) the
elector shall fold the ballot paper, put it in the envelope marked
“ballot paper”, fasten the envelope and return it to the issuing
officer.
(4) An issuing officer
who receives a declaration under subsection (3)(a) shall sign the declaration
as the authorised witness and add the date he signs and his address at that
date.
(4aa) An issuing
officer shall send any declaration signed under subsection (4) and any
envelope received under subsection (3)(c) to the Electoral Commissioner
forthwith.
(4a) If an elector who
votes as directed under subsection (2) believes on reasonable grounds that the
envelope —
(a) if
posted under subsection (2)(f), would not reach the Electoral Commissioner
before 9 a.m. on the Thursday next succeeding polling day; or
(b) if
delivered under subsection (2)(f), would not reach the Electoral Commissioner
before the close of the poll,
the envelope and its
contents may be posted or delivered unopened to a returning officer, or
delivered unopened to a presiding officer in charge of any polling place open
on polling day, so as to reach the returning officer or presiding officer
before the close of the poll, and the returning officer or presiding officer
shall, in accordance with the regulations, send the envelope and its contents
unopened to the Electoral Commissioner.
(4b) A returning
officer or presiding officer shall not accept an early ballot paper after the
close of the poll.
(4C) For the purpose
of subsection (2)(f), an envelope addressed to the Electoral Commissioner
containing a ballot paper is to be taken to have been posted before the close
of the poll if —
(a) the
postmark on the envelope is dated any day on or before polling day; or
(b) the
postmark on the envelope is dated with the date of the Sunday immediately
after polling day and the declaration is witnessed on or before polling day;
or
(c) in
the case of no postmark being legible, the declaration is witnessed on or
before polling day,
and the envelope
reaches the Electoral Commissioner before 9 a.m. on the Thursday next
succeeding polling day.
(5)(a) If an elector
cannot vote without assistance because the elector is sight impaired,
physically incapacitated or illiterate, the elector may nominate a person
(other than a candidate at the election) to assist the elector, and the
nominated person must, in accordance with the directions of the elector, do
any act required or authorised by subsection (2), (3) or (4a).
(b) If
the elector has been issued with a declaration under section 90(4)(c) or
90(4c)(b), the person appointed under paragraph (a) is to state in the
declaration his full name and address and the fact that he has been appointed
by the elector to mark the ballot paper for the elector.
(baa) If
the elector’s name has been recorded under section 90(4c)(a), a person
appointed under paragraph (a) must give the issuing officer his full name and
address and satisfy the issuing officer that he has been appointed by the
elector to mark the ballot paper for the elector.
(ba)
Without limiting paragraph (a), if the elector completes the declaration but
is so disabled as to be unable to vote without assistance the authorised
witness may, according to the directions of the elector, mark the ballot for
the elector and do for the elector any other act required or authorised by
subsection (2)(d) or (e), (3)(c) or (4a).
(c)
Subject to paragraph (a), a person who, not being the declarant named in a
declaration made under this section, —
(i)
signs as the declarant; or
(ii)
makes a distinguishing mark as the declarant,
on the declaration
with or without the authority of the declarant so named commits an offence.
Penalty: $1 000.
(d) An
authorised witness shall not witness the signature or mark of any elector on a
declaration made under this section unless —
(i)
he has satisfied himself as to the identity of the
declarant named therein; and
(ii)
he has seen the declarant —
(I) sign the declaration in his, the
declarant’s own hand writing; or
(II) make his mark
thereon;
and
(iii)
he knows the statements contained in the declaration are
true, or has satisfied himself, by inquiry from the declarant or otherwise,
that the statements contained in the declaration are true.
Penalty: $1 000.
(6) An elector to whom
an early ballot paper has been issued under section 90(4)(c) is not entitled
to vote at any polling place unless the early ballot paper has been delivered
to the presiding officer for cancellation, but if the elector claims not to
have received the early ballot paper, the elector may be permitted to vote
after making a declaration in the prescribed form before the presiding officer
at the polling place.
(7) The Electoral
Commissioner shall retain at his office in a sealed ballot box all envelopes
containing early ballot papers received by him after the close of nominations
and up to the time when he commences scrutiny of the declarations relating to
the early ballot papers enclosed in those envelopes as provided in subsection
(8).
(8) At any time not
earlier than 72 hours before the commencement of the poll, the Electoral
Commissioner or an assistant returning officer appointed under section 142A,
or that section as applied by section 146B(1), together with such other
assistant presiding officers appointed by the Electoral Commissioner or the
assistant returning officer as may be necessary, shall commence the scrutiny
of declarations relating to early ballot papers in the prescribed manner.
(9) Where a
declaration relating to an early ballot paper —
(a) is
not signed by the elector to whom it was issued or a person appointed under
subsection (5)(a); or
(b) is
not witnessed by an authorised witness in accordance with this Act; or
(c) does
not bear the date the authorised witness signed the declaration; or
(d) does
not bear the address of the authorised witness as at the date he signed the
declaration as required by subsection (2)(b) or (3)(a),
the early ballot paper
shall be rejected.
(9a) A determination
of an entitlement to vote at an election being held on any day applies to any
other election being held on that day and only one declaration is required
under this section.
(10)(a) An early
ballot paper shall not be rejected for the reason only that a declaration
relating to it has been enclosed with the early ballot paper in the envelope
marked “ballot paper”.
(b)
Where the Electoral Commissioner has reason to believe that a declaration
relating to an early ballot paper is so enclosed, he may open the envelope
marked “ballot paper” and, without permitting any person to see
the ballot paper enclosed therein, and if a declaration is so enclosed,
extract the declaration and in any case refasten the envelope containing the
early ballot paper and deal with the early ballot paper in the prescribed
manner.
(11) The decision of
the Electoral Commissioner as to the rejection or admission of any early
ballot paper is subject to review only by the Court of Disputed Returns.
(12) At any time after
an envelope containing an early ballot paper has been dealt with in accordance
with —
(a) the
regulations made for the purposes of subsection (8); or
(b)
subsection (10),
an officer or officers
referred to in subsection (8) may, in the prescribed manner, open the envelope
and deal with the ballot paper in it.
[Section 92 inserted: No. 53 of 1957 s. 5;
amended: No. 59 of 1959 s. 6; No. 51 of 1962 s. 7; No. 33 of 1964 s. 29; No.
68 of 1964 s. 19; No. 113 of 1965 s. 8; No. 33 of 1967 s. 12; No. 70 of 1973
s. 6; No. 40 of 1987 s. 53 and 84; No. 79 of 1987 s. 29; No. 66 of 1990 s. 5;
No. 78 of 1995 s. 147; No. 36 of 2000 s. 45 and 48(1) to (3); No. 64 of 2006
s. 30 and 53; No. 35 of 2012 s. 19.]