Page:A History of the Australian Ballot System in the United States.djvu/98

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
APPENDIX A
85

cross within the square opposite the name of such candidate, and shall then fold the same paper and immediately deliver it so folded to the Returning Officer or to his deputy, who shall forthwith publicly, and without opening the same, deposit it in a box to be provided for that purpose; and no voting paper so deposited in any box shall, on any account, be taken therefrom, unless in the presence of scrutineers after the close of the election: Provided, that no voting paper shall be received unless it be so folded as to render it impossible for the Returning Officer, or any other person to see for what candidate or candidates the vote is given; and any voter wilfully infringing any of the provisions of this clause, or obstructing the voting by any unnecessary delay in performing any act within the polling booth, or room, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

No inquiry of a voter except as to his identity whether he has voted before on the same election and as to qualification

32. No inquiry shall be permitted at any election as to the right of any person to vote, except only as follows, that is to say: the Returning Officer or his Deputy shall, if required by any two electors entitled to vote in the same Electoral District, put to any voter at the time of his tendering his vote, and not afterwards, the following questions, or any of them, and no other:–

Form of questions to he put as to these points

First–Are you the person whose name appears as A. B. in the electoral roll now in force for this Electoral District (or Division, being registered therein for property described to be situated in (here specify the street or place described in the electoral roll) ?)
Second–Have you already voted at the present election?
Third–Had you, at the time of being registered, the qualification for which your name now stands in the electoral roll for the district of ——— (specifying in each case the particulars of the qualification as described in the electoral roll), and are you still possessed of the same qualification? (or as the case may be. Are you of the age of twenty-one years, and did you at the time of being registered, and do you still reside within the District of ———?)

Punishment for false answer

And no person required to answer any of the said questions shall be permitted or qualified to vote until he shall have answered the same, nor if he shall have answered the same in such a manner as to show that he is not qualified to vote, and if any person shall wilfully make a false answer to any of the questions aforesaid, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be indicted and punished accordingly.

Punishment for voting twice, or personating voters

33. Every person who shall vote a second time, or offer to vote a second time, at the same election, for any Electoral District, or who shall personate any other person for the purpose of voting at such election, shall be guilty of a