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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
Parliamentary Electorates and
Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
No , 2010
A Bill for
An Act to amend the Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912 to make
provision for technology assisted voting for persons with impaired vision or with
certain other disabilities and for persons unable to vote by reason of location, to make
further provision regarding the conduct of elections; and for other purposes.
Clause 1 Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
The Legislature of New South Wales enacts: 1
1 Name of Act 2
This Act is the Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further 3
Amendment Act 2010. 4
2 Commencement 5
This Act commences on the date of assent to this Act. 6
Page 2
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
Amendment of Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912 No 41 Schedule 1
relating to technology assisted voting
Schedule 1 Amendment of Parliamentary 1
Electorates and Elections Act 1912 No 41 2
relating to technology assisted voting 3
Part 5, Division 12A 4
Insert after Division 12 of Part 5: 5
Division 12A Technology assisted voting 6
120AA Definitions 7
In this Division: 8
approved procedures means the procedures approved under 9
section 120AC. 10
eligible elector--see section 120AB. 11
technology assisted voting means a method of voting where an 12
eligible elector votes by means of a networked electronic device, 13
such as by a telephone or by a computer linked to the internet. 14
120AB Meaning of "eligible elector" 15
(1) For the purposes of this Division, an eligible elector means an 16
elector who meets any of the following eligibility requirements 17
(and any additional eligibility requirements under 18
subsection (2)): 19
(a) the elector's vision is so impaired, or the elector is 20
otherwise so physically incapacitated or so illiterate, that 21
he or she is unable to vote without assistance, 22
(b) the elector has a disability (within the meaning of the 23
Anti-Discrimination Act 1977) and because of that 24
disability he or she has difficulty voting at a polling place 25
or is unable to vote without assistance, 26
(c) the elector's real place of living is not within 27
20 kilometres, by the nearest practicable route, of a polling 28
place, 29
(d) the elector will not throughout the hours of polling on 30
polling day be within New South Wales. 31
(2) The Electoral Commissioner may, by order published on the 32
NSW legislation website, set additional requirements for electors 33
or any class of electors to be eligible for technology assisted 34
voting. 35
Page 3
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
Schedule 1 Amendment of Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912 No 41
relating to technology assisted voting
(3) The regulations can limit the classes of electors who may be 1
eligible for technology assisted voting. 2
(4) Subsection (1) (d) does not have effect until a regulation declares 3
that the paragraph is operational. Such a regulation may not be 4
made before 26 March 2012. 5
120AC Electoral Commissioner to approve procedures for technology 6
assisted voting 7
(1) The Electoral Commissioner may approve procedures to 8
facilitate voting by eligible electors at an election by means of 9
technology assisted voting. 10
(2) The approved procedures must provide: 11
(a) for an eligible elector to register before voting by means of 12
technology assisted voting, and 13
(b) for the making of a record of each eligible elector who has 14
voted by means of technology assisted voting, and 15
(c) for the authentication of the eligible elector's vote, and 16
(d) for the secrecy of the eligible elector's vote, and 17
(e) that any vote cast in accordance with the approved 18
procedures be securely transmitted to the Electoral 19
Commissioner and securely stored by the Electoral 20
Commissioner until printed, and 21
(f) for the production of a printed ballot paper at the close of 22
the poll, for the purposes of the scrutiny, for each vote 23
transmitted to the Electoral Commissioner showing the 24
vote cast by the eligible elector, and 25
(g) for the bundling of those ballot papers according to the 26
electoral district of the eligible elector (separating 27
Assembly and Council ballot papers into different 28
bundles), the sealing of the bundled ballot papers in 29
packages and the distribution of: 30
(i) the sealed packages of Assembly ballot papers to the 31
relevant returning officers for each of those districts, 32
and 33
(ii) the sealed packages of Council ballot papers to the 34
Electoral Commissioner. 35
(3) A printed ballot paper produced in accordance with the approved 36
procedures does not need to be in or to the effect of the form 37
prescribed in Schedule 4 or 4A (as the case requires), or be of the 38
same size or format as the ballot papers printed in accordance 39
Page 4
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
Amendment of Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912 No 41 Schedule 1
relating to technology assisted voting
with section 83 or 83B, so long as the vote cast by the eligible 1
elector can be accurately determined. 2
(4) The Electoral Commissioner may approve procedures under this 3
section only if the Electoral Commissioner is satisfied that a class 4
of electors, who in other circumstances would be unable to vote 5
or would have difficulty voting, would benefit from the approval 6
of the procedures. 7
(5) The only limit on the power of the Electoral Commissioner to 8
approve procedures under this section is that the pre-condition for 9
approval set out in subsection (4) is met. 10
(6) The approval of procedures under this section cannot be 11
challenged, reviewed or called into question in proceedings 12
before any court or tribunal except on the grounds that the 13
approval exceeds the jurisdictional limit specified by 14
subsection (5) for the approval of such procedures. 15
120AD Independent auditing of technology assisted voting 16
(1) The Electoral Commissioner is to engage an independent person 17
(the independent auditor) to conduct audits of the information 18
technology used under the approved procedures. 19
(2) Audits under this section are to be conducted and the results of 20
those audits are to be provided to the Electoral Commissioner: 21
(a) at least 7 days before voting commences in each Assembly 22
general election at which technology assisted voting is to 23
be available, and 24
(b) within 60 days after the return of the writs for each 25
Assembly general election at which technology assisted 26
voting was available. 27
(3) Without limiting the content of the audit, the independent auditor 28
is to determine whether test votes cast in accordance with the 29
approved procedures were accurately reflected in the 30
corresponding test ballot papers produced under those 31
procedures. 32
(4) The independent auditor may make recommendations to the 33
Electoral Commissioner to reduce or eliminate any risks that 34
could affect the security, accuracy or secrecy of voting in 35
accordance with the approved procedures. 36
Page 5
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
Schedule 1 Amendment of Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912 No 41
relating to technology assisted voting
120AE Scrutineers 1
A candidate may appoint a scrutineer to observe: 2
(a) any production of the printed ballot papers and bundling 3
and sealing of those ballot papers in accordance with the 4
approved procedures, and 5
(b) any other element of the technology assisted voting 6
process that is approved by the Electoral Commissioner for 7
the purposes of this section. 8
120AF Technology assisted votes to be counted with postal votes 9
Any vote cast by an eligible elector and transmitted to the 10
Electoral Commissioner in accordance with the approved 11
procedures is to be counted with the postal votes for that election. 12
120AG Secrecy relating to technology assisted voting 13
(1) Any person who becomes aware of how an eligible elector, 14
voting in accordance with the approved procedures, voted is not 15
to disclose that information to any other person except in 16
accordance with the approved procedures. 17
Maximum penalty: 5 penalty units, or imprisonment for a term 18
not exceeding 6 months, or both. 19
(2) A person must not disclose to any other person any source code 20
or other computer software that relates to technology assisted 21
voting under the approved procedures, except in accordance with 22
the approved procedures or in accordance with any arrangement 23
entered into by the person with the Electoral Commissioner. 24
Maximum penalty: 5 penalty units, or imprisonment for a term 25
not exceeding 6 months, or both. 26
120AH False and misleading statements 27
A person who makes any statement (whether orally, in writing or 28
by means of electronic communication) that the person knows to 29
be false or misleading in a material particular for the purposes of 30
or in connection with either of the following is guilty of an 31
offence: 32
(a) making an application for registration for technology 33
assisted voting, 34
(b) casting a vote by means of technology assisted voting. 35
Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units, or imprisonment for a term 36
not exceeding 2 years, or both. 37
Page 6
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
Amendment of Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912 No 41 Schedule 1
relating to technology assisted voting
120AI Protection of computer hardware and software 1
A person must not, without reasonable excuse, destroy or 2
interfere with any computer program, data file or electronic 3
device used, or intended to be used, by the Electoral 4
Commissioner for or in connection with technology assisted 5
voting. 6
Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units, or imprisonment for a term 7
not exceeding 3 years, or both. 8
120AJ Approvals to be published on the internet 9
An approval by the Electoral Commissioner for the purposes of 10
this Division must be: 11
(a) in writing, and 12
(b) published on the Commission's internet website. 13
120AK Regulations relating to technology assisted voting 14
(1) The regulations may make provision for or with respect to voting 15
by eligible electors by means of technology assisted voting. 16
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the regulations may make 17
provision for or with respect to the following: 18
(a) the technology assisted voting method or methods that 19
may be authorised under approved procedures, 20
(b) the period during which voting by eligible electors using 21
technology assisted voting is permitted (including a period 22
before polling day), 23
(c) the appointment by the Electoral Commissioner of officers 24
to facilitate voting by means of technology assisted voting, 25
(d) the independent auditing of the secrecy and authenticity of 26
voting by means of technology assisted voting at any 27
election. 28
(3) The regulations may provide that technology assisted voting is 29
not to be used at a specified election. 30
(4) For the avoidance of doubt, neither this section nor any 31
regulations made under this section prevent approved procedures 32
dealing with matters referred to in this section. 33
(5) However, if a provision of a regulation made under this section is 34
inconsistent with an approved procedure, the provision of the 35
regulation prevails to the extent of the inconsistency. 36
Page 7
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
Schedule 1 Amendment of Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912 No 41
relating to technology assisted voting
120AL Electoral Commissioner may determine that technology assisted 1
voting is not to be used 2
(1) The Electoral Commissioner may determine that technology 3
assisted voting is not to be used at a specified election. 4
(2) A determination under this section must be in writing and 5
published on the Commission's internet website. 6
120AM Review of technology assisted voting at elections and 7
investigation of its extension to other electors 8
(1) The Electoral Commissioner is to conduct: 9
(a) a review of the performance of technology assisted voting 10
at the 2011 Assembly general election and periodic 11
Council election, and 12
(b) an investigation into extending technology assisted voting 13
to all electors outside the State and other electors for 14
subsequent elections under this Act. 15
(2) The review and investigation are to be undertaken as soon as 16
possible after the return of writs for the 2011 Assembly general 17
election. 18
(3) A report on the review and investigation is to be given to the 19
Minister not later than 26 September 2011. 20
(4) The Minister is, as soon as practicable, to table, or cause to be 21
tabled, a copy of the report in each House of Parliament. 22
Page 8
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
Miscellaneous amendments to Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act Schedule 2
1912 No 41
Schedule 2 Miscellaneous amendments to 1
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections 2
Act 1912 No 41 3
[1] Section 3 Definitions 4
Insert ", any approved form" after "any electoral claim" in the definition of 5
Electoral paper in section 3 (1). 6
[2] Section 21ACA 7
Insert after section 21AC: 8
21ACA Electoral Commissioner not required to vote at Assembly and 9
Council elections 10
The Electoral Commissioner is not required to vote at any 11
election of a member of the Assembly or any periodic Council 12
election. 13
[3] Section 21AH 14
Omit the section. Insert instead: 15
21AH Returning officer not eligible to vote at Assembly election 16
A returning officer for a district is ineligible to vote at any 17
election of a member of the Assembly for that district. 18
[4] Sections 21AR, 84 (2), 98 (3), 114P (6) and 114ZN (2) 19
Omit "in the Gazette" wherever occurring. 20
Insert instead "on the Commission's internet website". 21
[5] Section 22 Who is entitled to be enrolled? 22
Omit "age 17" from section 22 (2) (f). Insert instead "age 16". 23
[6] Section 22 (3) 24
Omit "17 years". Insert instead "16 years". 25
[7] Section 24 Restrictions on entitlement to vote 26
Omit section 24 (4)(6). 27
Page 9
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
Schedule 2 Miscellaneous amendments to Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act
1912 No 41
[8] Section 28 Means of enrolment 1
Insert at the end of section 28 (b): 2
, or 3
(c) in response to a change to any roll kept under the 4
Commonwealth Act under section 30A. 5
[9] Section 30A 6
Insert after section 30: 7
30A Enrolment by Electoral Commissioner in response to change to 8
Commonwealth electoral roll 9
(1) If, because of a change to any roll kept under the Commonwealth 10
Act, the Electoral Commissioner forms the opinion that: 11
(a) a person who is not enrolled for any district is entitled to 12
be enrolled for a district, the Electoral Commissioner may 13
enrol the person for the district, or 14
(b) a person is incorrectly enrolled for a district (the first 15
district), but that the person is entitled to be enrolled for 16
another district (the second district), the Electoral 17
Commissioner may: 18
(i) remove the person's name from the roll for the first 19
district, and 20
(ii) enrol the person for the second district, or 21
(c) a person who is enrolled for a district is not entitled to be 22
enrolled for that district, the Electoral Commissioner may 23
remove the person's name from the roll for the district. 24
(2) Nothing in this section prevents the Electoral Commissioner 25
enrolling a person for a district during the period of any election, 26
including after the issue of the writ for the election. 27
[10] Section 47 Persons who are to provide information 28
Omit "17 years" from section 47 (3) (b) (iii). Insert instead "16 years". 29
[11] Section 67A Application of Part 30
Omit "Divisions 2, 3, 6B, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11A, 12, 13, 15, 16 and 17". 31
Insert instead "Divisions 2, 5A, 6B, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11A, 12, 12A, 13, 15, 16, 17 32
and 18". 33
Page 10
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
Miscellaneous amendments to Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act Schedule 2
1912 No 41
[12] Section 83 Printing of ballot papers 1
Omit "in which those names were drawn by a ballot held pursuant to" from 2
section 83 (a). 3
Insert instead "determined under". 4
[13] Section 83B Printing of ballot papers 5
Omit "hold a ballot to" wherever occurring in section 83B (1) (a) and (b). 6
[14] Section 83B (2) 7
Omit the subsection. Insert instead: 8
(2) The Electoral Commissioner may use any method of random 9
selection as seems appropriate to the Electoral Commissioner 10
(including by electronic means) to determine the order in which 11
names of groups and candidates are to be entered on ballot 12
papers. 13
[15] Section 83B (6) 14
Omit "ballots of the kind referred to in subsection (1) to be held". 15
Insert instead "determinations of the kind referred to in subsections (1) 16
and (2)". 17
[16] Section 99 Questions to be put to voter 18
Omit section 99 (3). 19
[17] Section 99 (5) (b) 20
Omit "and the question specified in subsection (3)". 21
[18] Sections 99A, 114A (2) (a), 114Q (1), 114ZR (3) and 115 (1) (c) 22
Omit "prescribed form" wherever occurring. 23
Insert instead "approved form". 24
[19] Section 114R Provisional pre-poll voting 25
Insert "106 (1), (2), (2C), (3) (a)(d) and (5)," after "sections" in 26
section 114R (5). 27
Page 11
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
Schedule 2 Miscellaneous amendments to Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act
1912 No 41
[20] Section 114R (5A) 1
Insert after section 114R (5): 2
(5A) Electoral Commissioner may determine that enrolment voting 3
provisions do not apply at pre-poll voting places outside New 4
South Wales 5
The Electoral Commissioner may determine that sections 115A 6
and 117A119 do not extend to the casting of votes at one or 7
more specified pre-poll voting places (being pre-poll voting 8
places located outside New South Wales). Such a determination 9
must be: 10
(a) in writing, and 11
(b) published on the Commission's internet website. 12
[21] Section 114ZQB Procedure for voting at declared institutions--voting in 13
elector's district 14
Omit "(2)," from section 114ZQB (2). 15
[22] Section 114ZR Procedure for voting at declared institutions--voting 16
other than in elector's district 17
Omit "in the form prescribed" from section 114ZR (5). 18
Insert instead "in the approved form". 19
[23] Section 114ZR (11) and (12) 20
Insert after section 114ZR (10): 21
(11) Provisional pre-poll voting at declared institutions outside 22
district 23
Section 106 (1), (2), (2C), (3) (a)(d) and (5) extend to the casting 24
of a vote of a person at a declared institution that is not in the 25
district for which the person claims to be entitled to be enrolled, 26
subject to the following modifications: 27
(a) references to polling places are taken to be references to 28
declared institutions, 29
(b) references to polling place managers and election officials 30
are taken to be references to pre-poll voting officers at the 31
declared institutions. 32
Page 12
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
Miscellaneous amendments to Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act Schedule 2
1912 No 41
(12) Application of absent voting scrutiny provisions 1
Sections 117120 extend to the scrutiny of a vote of a person at a 2
declared institution that is not in the district for which the person 3
claims to be entitled to be enrolled, subject to the following 4
modifications: 5
(a) references to absent voters ballot papers are taken to be 6
references to the ballot papers of persons voting under this 7
section (other than subsection (11)), 8
(b) references to voting under section 115A are taken to be 9
references to voting under section 106 (1), (2) and (2C) as 10
extended by subsection (11). 11
[24] Section 138 Election information 12
Omit "electoral information" and "Electoral information" wherever occurring 13
in section 138 (2), (3) and (4). 14
Insert instead "election information" and "Election information", respectively. 15
[25] Schedule 4 Ballot paper 16
Omit: 17
Place the number "1" in the square opposite the name of the 18
candidate for whom you desire to give your first preference vote. 19
*You may, if you wish, vote for additional candidates by placing 20
consecutive numbers beginning with the number "2" in the 21
squares opposite the names of those additional candidates in the 22
order of your preferences for them. 23
Fold the ballot paper so that the vote cannot be seen, and put it in 24
the ballot box or in the envelope provided as appropriate. 25
Insert instead: 26
Write the number 1 in the square next to the candidate of your 27
choice. 28
*You can show more choices, if you want to, by writing numbers 29
in the other squares, starting with the number 2. 30
Fold this ballot paper so your vote cannot be seen and place it in 31
the ballot box (or in the envelope provided). 32
[26] Schedule 4A 33
Omit the Schedule. Insert instead: 34
Page 13
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
Schedule 2 Miscellaneous amendments to Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act
1912 No 41
Schedule 4A Ballot paper 1
Page 14
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
Miscellaneous amendments to Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act Schedule 2
1912 No 41
[27] Schedule 22 Savings, transitional and other provisions 1
Insert at the end of clause 1 (1): 2
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment 3
Act 2010 4
Page 15
Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Further Amendment Bill 2010
Schedule 3 Amendment of Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 No 52
Schedule 3 Amendment of Government Information 1
(Public Access) Act 2009 No 52 2
[1] Schedule 1 Information for which there is conclusive presumption of 3
overriding public interest against disclosure 4
Omit "section 48 (Privacy--non-disclosure of information)" from the matter 5
relating to the Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912 in clause 1 6
of the Schedule. 7
Insert instead "sections 48 (Privacy--non-disclosure of information), 120AG 8
(Secrecy relating to technology assisted voting), 135 (Violation of secrecy by 9
officers) and 154AE (Votes from Antarctica not to be disclosed)". 10
[2] Schedule 2 Excluded information of particular agencies 11
Insert at the end of clause 4 of the Schedule: 12
Election Funding Authority--investigative and prosecuting 13
functions. 14
Page 16
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