Commonwealth Numbered Acts

REFERENDUM (MACHINERY PROVISIONS) ACT 1984 No. 44, 1984 - SECT 50

50. (1) Notwithstanding any arrangement in force under section 48 or 49, a
visit under that section to a patient in a hospital shall not be made if the
presiding officer or electoral visitor, as the case may be, is informed by a
registered medical practitioner or a member of the staff of the hospital that
such a visit is forbidden, on medical grounds, by a registered medical
practitioner.

(2) Literature relating to a referendum may be supplied to the general office
of a hospital to which section 48 or 49 applies, and any literature so
supplied shall be made available on request to patients entitled to vote under
that section.

(3) So far as is practicable, a vote under section 48 or 49 shall be taken as
if it were taken under the other provisions of this Act (including the
provisions relating to absent voting) and, in particular, in the application
of this Act for the purposes of sub-section 48 (2) or 49 (4), this Act has
effect as if-

   (a)  a person who, with the approval of an appropriate person on the staff
        of the hospital, enters or remains in a room, ward or other place in
        the hospital at a time when, under that sub-section, it is to be
        treated as if it were a part of a polling booth were, for the purposes
        of section 135, doing so by permission of the presiding officer there
        present;

   (b)  paragraph 35 (a) were omitted and the following paragraph were
        substituted:

''(a) mark his vote on the ballot-paper in a manner that ensures the secrecy
of his vote;'';

   (c)  paragraph 35 (c) were omitted; and

   (d)  the words ''enter an unoccupied compartment of the booth with the
        voter, and'' were omitted from sub-section 36 (1).

(4) Sub-section 131 (1) applies in relation to a hospital that is a polling
place and in relation to a special hospital within the meaning of section 49
as if-

   (a)  the reference in that sub-section to voting day and to all days to
        which the voting is adjourned were a reference to the period
        commencing on the day of the issue of the writ for the referendum and
        ending at the expiration of voting day or, if the voting is adjourned,
        the expiration of the last day to which the voting is adjourned; and

   (b)  the references in that sub-section to a polling booth were references
        to the hospital or special hospital, as the case may be.

(5) Where an elector has voted under section 48 or 49 at a referendum, any
postal ballot-paper received by the Divisional Returning Officer that is, or
that purports to be, a postal ballot-paper of the elector shall not be
admitted in the scrutiny in relation to the referendum.

(6) Where an arrangement is in force under section 48 or 49, the Divisional
Returning Officer for the Division in which the hospital is situated shall,
before 4 o'clock in the afternoon on-

   (a)  in the case of an arrangement under section 48-the day before the
        voting day for the referendum for which the arrangement was made; or

   (b)  in the case of an arrangement under section 49-the day before the day,
        or before the first day, on which votes are to be taken under that
        section, give to the relevant scrutineers a notice in writing setting
        out-

   (c)  in a case to which paragraph (a) applies-the hospital to which the
        arrangement relates and the time or times at which votes are proposed
        to be taken under section 48; or

   (d)  in a case to which paragraph (b) applies-the hospital to which the
        arrangement relates and the day or days on which, and the time or
        times at which, votes are proposed to be taken under section 49.

(7) As far as is reasonably practicable, votes taken under section 48 or 49
shall be taken on the day or days and at the time or times specified in the
relevant notice under sub-section (6), but any failure to take those votes in
that manner does not invalidate the result of the referendum.