REFERENDUM (MACHINERY PROVISIONS) ACT 1984 - SECT 17 Arrangements for voting

REFERENDUM (MACHINERY PROVISIONS) ACT 1984 - SECT 17

  (1)   Each Divisional Returning Officer shall, for the purposes of a referendum:

  (a)   provide and equip proper polling booths and provide ballot - boxes; and

  (b)   provide ballot papers and all necessary certified lists of voters and approved lists of voters.

  (2)   The Electoral Commission shall, for the purposes of a referendum, appoint a presiding officer to preside at each polling place and all necessary deputy presiding officers and assistant presiding officers, and such appointments shall terminate upon the completion of the referendum.

  (3)   In any emergency on the voting day for a referendum due to the absence of any deputy presiding officer or assistant presiding officer, or to any unforeseen and continued pressure at the voting that cannot be met by the duly appointed officers, a presiding officer may appoint any person to act as deputy presiding officer or assistant presiding officer, and a person so appointed shall, if the Electoral Commission afterwards ratifies the appointment, be deemed to have been duly appointed.

  (4)   A person who is under the age of 18 years shall not be appointed to be a presiding officer, deputy presiding officer or assistant presiding officer.

  (5)   A deputy presiding officer or assistant presiding officer may, subject to the directions of the presiding officer, exercise all or any of the powers of the presiding officer, and shall, in respect of the exercise of those powers, be deemed to be the presiding officer.

  (7)   The polling booths and ballot - boxes provided for the purposes of a referendum may be used for the purposes of an election held on the same day, but the ballot papers for the election and the referendum shall be distinctively coloured.