Northern Territory Consolidated Regulations Northern Territory Consolidated Regulations49. Examination of voting papers for declaration voting
(1) The returning officer must examine each unopened envelope containing a ballot paper used for declaration voting.
(2) If it appears from the declaration that the envelope contains an absentee vote for an election for another council area (or a ward of another council area), the returning officer must send the unopened envelope to the returning officer for the relevant area so that that returning officer may determine whether the vote should be admitted to the count.
(3) If the declaration envelope is not for an absentee vote and the returning officer is satisfied that:
(a) the declaration on the envelope is properly signed and witnessed; and
(b) the person who made the declaration is entitled to vote and:
(i) the person does not appear to have voted more than once at the election; or
(ii) in the case of a person marked as having already voted - there is a reasonable possibility that the mark was inserted in error;
the returning officer must admit the envelope to the scrutiny.
(4) When the returning officer admits a declaration envelope to the scrutiny, the returning officer must:
(a) record the fact that the voter has voted by placing a mark against the voter's name on an electoral roll or in some other appropriate way; and
(b) take the ballot paper out of the envelope; and
(c) place the envelope in a parcel with all other envelopes from which ballot papers have been taken under paragraph (b).
(5) If the returning officer is not satisfied of the matters mentioned in subregulation (2), the officer must:
(a) exclude the ballot paper from further scrutiny without opening the envelope in which it is contained; and
(b) place the unopened envelopes in a parcel.
(6) The officer must seal the parcels mentioned in subregulations (4)(c) and (5)(b) and endorse on each parcel a statement of its contents.
(7) A candidate's scrutineer may sign a sealed parcel.