INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT 1988 No. 86 of 1988 - SECT 317 Offences in relation to ballot

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT 1988 No. 86 of 1988 - SECT 317

317. (1) Where a person conducting a ballot requires an officer or employee of
an organisation or branch of an organisation to provide or make available, for
the purposes of the ballot, a register or list of:

   (a)  in the case of an officer of the organisation - the members of:

        (i)    the organisation or a branch of the organisation; or

        (ii)   a section or class of the members of the organisation or a
               branch of the organisation; and

   (b)  in the case of an officer of a branch of the organisation - the
        members of:

        (i)    the branch; or

        (ii)   a section or class of the members of the branch; the officer or
               employee shall promptly comply with the requirement so far as
               he or she is capable.

(2) A person shall not, without lawful authority or excuse, in relation to a
ballot:

   (a)  personate another person to secure a ballot paper to which the
        personator is not entitled or personate another person for the purpose
        of voting;

   (b)  destroy, deface, alter, take or otherwise interfere with a ballot
        paper or envelope;

   (c)  put or deliver a ballot paper or other paper:

        (i)    into a ballot box or other ballot receptacle;

        (ii)   into the post; or

        (iii)  to a person receiving ballot papers for the purposes of the
               ballot;

   (d)  record a vote that the person is not entitled to record;

   (e)  record more than one vote;

   (f)  forge a ballot paper or envelope, or utter a ballot paper or envelope
        that the person knows to be forged;

   (g)  provide a ballot paper;

   (h)  obtain or have possession of a ballot paper; or

   (j)  destroy, take, open or otherwise interfere with a ballot box or other
        ballot receptacle.

(3) A person shall not, without lawful authority or excuse, in relation to a
ballot:

   (a)  hinder or obstruct the taking of the ballot;

   (b)  use any form of intimidation to prevent from voting, or to influence
        the vote of, a person entitled to vote at the ballot;

   (c)  threaten, offer or suggest, or use, cause, inflict or procure, any
        violence, injury, punishment, damage, loss or disadvantage because of,
        or to induce:

        (i)    any vote or omission to vote;

        (ii)   any support of, or opposition to, voting in a particular
               manner; or

        (iii)  any promise of any vote, omission, support or opposition; or

   (d)  counsel or advise a person entitled to vote to refrain from voting.
(4) A person (in this subsection called the "relevant person") shall not,
without lawful authority or excuse, in relation to a ballot:

   (a)  request, require or induce another person to show a ballot paper to
        the relevant person, or permit the relevant person to see a ballot
        paper, in such a manner that the relevant person can see the vote,
        while the ballot paper is being marked or after it has been marked; or

   (b)  if the relevant person is a person performing duties for the purposes
        of the ballot, show to another person, or permit another person to
        have access to, a ballot paper used in the ballot, otherwise than in
        the performance of the duties.
Penalty for a contravention of this section: $500 or imprisonment for 6
months, or both.

(5) In this section:

"ballot" means:

   (a)  a ballot ordered under section 135 or 136; or

   (b)  a ballot conducted under section 243.