New South Wales Consolidated Acts

ELECTORAL ACT 2017 - SECT 37

37 Registered early voters

(1) An elector may apply to the Electoral Commissioner to be a registered early voter if--

(a) the elector's residence is not within 20 kilometres, by the nearest practicable route, of a voting centre, or

(b) by reason of being seriously ill or infirm, the elector is unable to travel from the place where he or she resides (other than a hospital that is a voting centre), or

(c) because he or she will be at a place (other than a hospital that is a voting centre) caring for a person who is seriously ill or infirm, the elector is unable to travel from that place to a voting centre, or

(d) the elector is enrolled pursuant to an application made under section 32 (6) (which contemplates the provision of a registered medical practitioner's certificate), or

(e) a registered medical practitioner has certified that the elector cannot physically sign the elector's name, or

(f) the elector is a silent elector, or

(g) the elector is a person with a disability (within the meaning of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 ), or

(h) because of his or her religious beliefs or membership of a religious order, the elector--

(i) is precluded from attending a voting centre, or

(ii) for the greater part of the hours of voting on an election day, is precluded from attending a voting centre.

(2) An application is to be made in the manner and form approved by the Electoral Commissioner and is to specify which of the 2 classes of registered early voter the elector is applying to belong to--

(a) the registered early voter (postal) class--being the class of registered early voters who may early vote at elections by post, or

(b) the registered early voter (technology assisted voting) class--being the class of registered early voters who may early vote at elections by means of technology assisted voting.

(3) The Electoral Commissioner--

(a) may accept or reject an application under this section to grant the elector registered early voter status, and

(b) if the application is accepted, must specify the class of registered early voter that the elector has been granted, and

(c) must advise the person in writing of the Electoral Commissioner's decision under this subsection.

(4) An application may be made under subsection (1) (d) or (e) by another person acting on behalf of the elector if a registered medical practitioner has certified, in writing, that the elector cannot physically sign the elector's name.

(5) A certificate referred to in subsection (1) (d) or (e) or (4) is to be lodged with the application to which it relates.

(6) The Electoral Commissioner may withdraw registered early voter status from an elector if the Electoral Commissioner is satisfied that the elector is no longer an elector of a kind described in subsection (1).

(7) An elector who is a registered general postal voter under the Commonwealth Act is, unless the elector is a registered early voter (technology assisted voting), taken to be a registered early voter (postal).