The procedure at the
count of votes by the assistant returning officers is as follows:
(1) An assistant
returning officer at a counting place must open all ballot boxes at the
counting place.
(2) An assistant
returning officer must count all the votes on the ballot papers found in the
boxes opened by the assistant returning officer, rejecting all informal ballot
papers, and ascertain —
(a) the
number of votes for each candidate, if there are only 2 candidates; or
(b) if
there are more than 2 candidates, the number of first preference votes given
for each candidate,
and must make and keep
a record of the total number of votes for each candidate counted by the
assistant returning officer from each of such ballot boxes.
[(3) deleted]
(4) Each assistant
returning officer at a counting place must certify in writing, addressed to
the returning officer, the number of votes or first preference votes, as the
case may be, given for each candidate in the ballot papers contained in the
ballot boxes counted at the counting place.
(5) An assistant
returning officer may communicate to the returning officer the number of votes
or first preference votes, as the case may be, recorded for each candidate at
the counting place for which the assistant returning officer is appointed, and
the returning officer, in ascertaining the result of the poll, may act upon
the information so received.
(6) Each assistant
returning officer must —
(a)
enclose —
(i)
in 1packet, all the used ballot papers in their
possession; and
(ii)
in another packet, all the unused ballot papers in their
possession; and
(iii)
in another packet, all copies of rolls, books,
communications from officers, or other papers or documents used or received at
or in connection with the election, that are in their possession;
and
(b) seal
up the several packets and endorse the same with a description and the number
of the contents thereof respectively, and the name of the counting place and
the date of the polling, and sign the endorsement, and forthwith forward the
packets to the returning officer; and
(c) seal
up the packet containing the used ballot papers in front of the scrutineers,
if any, present at the count.
(7) A scrutineer may
sign a packet sealed in front of the scrutineer under subsection (6)(c).
[Section 142 amended: No. 44 of 1911 s. 35; No. 59
of 1919 s. 5; No. 58 of 1961 s. 17; No. 68 of 1964 s. 28; No. 40 of 1987 s. 68
and 84; No. 79 of 1987 s. 78; No. 36 of 2000 s. 68; No. 30 of 2023 s. 88.]