Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

COMMONWEALTH ELECTORAL ACT 1918 - SECT 269

  (1)   A ballot paper in a Senate election is not informal under paragraph   268(1)(b) if:

  (a)   the voter has marked the ballot paper in accordance with subsection   239(2); or

  (b)   the voter has marked the number 1, or the number 1 and one or more higher numbers, in squares printed on the ballot paper above the line.

  (1A)   For the purposes of this Act:

  (a)   a voter who, in a square printed on the ballot paper above the line, marks only a single tick or cross is taken as having written the number 1 in the square; and

  (b)   the following numbers written in a square printed on the ballot paper above the line are to be disregarded:

  (i)   numbers that are repeated and any higher numbers;

  (ii)   if a number is missed--any numbers that are higher than the missing number.

Note:   Paragraph   (1A)(b) applies both for the purposes of determining whether a ballot paper is formal, and for the purposes of determining which numbers marked on a ballot paper are counted in the election.

Example:   A ballot paper has squares above the line that are numbered 1, 1, 2 and 3. The vote is informal because, by disregarding the numbers 1 and upwards under subparagraph   (1A)(b)(i), no squares have been numbered.

  A second ballot paper has squares above the line that are numbered consecutively from 1 to 9 and then 11, 12, 13 and 14. The vote is formal under paragraph   (1)(b). However, only the squares numbered from 1 to 9 are counted for the purposes of sections   273 and 273A because the numbers 11 and upwards are disregarded under subparagraph   (b)(ii) of this subsection.

Votes that are formal both above and below the line

  (2)   If a ballot paper in a Senate election:

  (a)   has squares marked above the line in accordance with subsection   239(2) or paragraph   (1)(b) of this section; and

  (b)   has squares marked below the line in accordance with subsection   239(1) or section   268A;

then, for the purposes of sections   272 and 273, the only squares that are taken to have been marked on the ballot paper are the squares that are marked below the line.