New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS REGULATION 2020 - REG 84

84 Procedure for disputed votes

(1) A person claiming to vote at a polling place may vote under this clause even though--

(a) a mark on the roll indicates that the person has already voted at the polling place or before polling day, if the person's answers to the questions put to the person by a deputy electoral officer show that the person is entitled to vote, or

(c) the person's name cannot be found on the roll, if the person claims to be entitled to be enrolled as an elector for the election.

(2) A person voting under this clause must, after recording the person's vote on the ballot-paper--

(a) place the completed ballot-paper, folded so that the vote cannot be seen, in an envelope which is addressed to the deputy electoral officer and on which the person has made a written declaration specifying the ground on which the person claims to vote, and

(b) sign the declaration in the person's own handwriting, and

(c) seal the envelope, and

(d) hand the envelope to the deputy electoral officer.

(3) The deputy electoral officer must inform the regional electoral officer of the names of all persons who have voted under this clause and, at the completion of the count of first preference votes following the close of the poll, must send all envelopes purporting to contain ballot-papers of those persons to the regional electoral officer.

(4) The regional electoral officer must examine the declarations on all envelopes purporting to contain ballot-papers of persons voting under this clause and if, after making any inquiries the officer considers necessary--

(a) the regional electoral officer is satisfied that the person who signed the declaration on the envelope is entitled to vote--withdraw from the envelope all ballot-papers for further scrutiny and, without inspecting or unfolding the ballot-papers or allowing any other person to do so, place them in a locked ballot-box for further scrutiny under Division 6, or

(b) the regional electoral officer is not so satisfied--reject the ballot-papers purported to be contained in the envelope, without opening the envelope.

(5) Without limiting subclause (4), the returning officer may make inquiries of the Registrar for the purposes of making inquiries under subclause (4).