New South Wales Consolidated Acts

PARLIAMENTARY ELECTORATES AND ELECTIONS ACT 1912 - SECT 114A

114A Application for a postal vote certificate and postal ballot paper

(1) An elector who:

(a) will not throughout the hours of polling on polling day be within the State,

(b) will not throughout the hours of polling on polling day be within eight kilometres by the nearest practicable route of any polling booth open for the purposes of an election,

(c) will throughout the hours of polling on polling day be travelling under conditions which will preclude him or her from voting at any polling booth,

(d) is seriously ill or infirm, and by reason of such illness or infirmity will be precluded from attending at any polling booth to vote, or, in the case of a woman, will, by approaching maternity, be precluded from attending at any polling booth to vote,

(d1) is, at a place other than a hospital, caring for a person who is seriously ill or infirm or approaching maternity and by reason of caring for the person will be precluded from attending at any polling booth to vote,

(e) is, by reason of his or her membership of a religious order or his or her religious beliefs:

(i) precluded from attending at a polling booth, or

(ii) precluded from voting throughout the hours of polling on polling day or throughout the greater part of those hours,

(f) is, by reason of his or her being kept in a correctional centre (within the meaning of the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999 ), precluded from attending at any polling booth to vote,

(g) will, by reason of being engaged for fee, gain or reward in any work throughout the hours of polling on polling day, be precluded from attending at any polling booth to vote,

(h) is a silent elector,

(i) is a person with a disability (within the meaning of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 ), or

(j) believes that attending a polling place on polling day will place the personal safety of the person or of members of the person’s family at risk,

may make an application for a postal vote certificate and a postal ballot paper to the Electoral Commissioner.

(2) An application under subsection (1) shall:

(a) be in or to the effect of the approved form and specify the ground on which the elector is making the application.

(2A) An elector who has made an application under subsection (1) shall, notwithstanding that the application complies with subsection (2), be entitled to a postal ballot paper and postal vote certificate only if the application is received by the Electoral Commissioner:

(a) in the case of an application sent from within Australia, before 6 pm on the third day preceding polling day, or

(b) in the case of an application sent from outside Australia, before 6 pm on the fifth day preceding polling day.

(2B) A person shall not persuade or induce or associate with any person in persuading or inducing any person to make application for a postal vote certificate and postal ballot paper.

Maximum penalty: 10 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months, or both.

(3) An elector shall not make, and a person shall not induce an elector to make, any false statement in an application for a postal vote certificate and postal ballot paper, or in the declaration contained in such application.

Maximum penalty: 10 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months, or both.

(4) An application under subsection (1) may be made to the Electoral Commissioner through the Commission’s website in accordance with the directions of the Commission.