Division 16Division 16 General provisions
133 Election not to be questioned for want of or defect of title of officers
No election shall be liable to be questioned by reason only of any defect in the title, or any want of title, of the person by or before whom such election, or any polling for the same, has been held, if such person has been actually appointed to preside, or has been acting in the office giving the right so to preside at such election.
134 Election not to be questioned for omission etc of a formal nature
No election for a district shall be void in consequence only of there having been no returning officer at the time of the issue of the writ, or of any delay in the return of the writ; and no election for a district and no periodic Council election shall be void in consequence only of there having been no Electoral Commissioner at the time of the issue of the writ, or of any delay in the return of the writ; and where any accidental or unavoidable impediment, misfeasance, or omission has happened, the Governor may take all such measures as may be necessary for removing such impediment, or rectifying such misfeasance or omission; or may by proclamation declare any or all of the proceedings at or for any election valid as to and notwithstanding such impediment, misfeasance, or omission; and every such proclamation shall state specifically the nature of the impediment, misfeasance, or omission, and shall be forthwith published in the Gazette.
135 Violation of secrecy by officers
If any election official, pre-poll voting officer, postal voting officer, deputy postal voting officer or scrutineer in the discharge of his or her duties under this Act at or concerning any election, learns, or has the means of learning, for what candidate any person votes or has voted at such election, he or she shall not by word or act, or any other means whatsoever, directly or indirectly divulge or disclose, or aid in divulging or disclosing the same, save in answer to some question which he or she is legally bound to answer, or in compliance with the express provisions of the law relating to elections; and every such official, officer or scrutineer who wilfully violates the provisions of this section shall be guilty of an indictable offence, and be liable to be fined any sum not exceeding 5 penalty units, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding six months, or to be both fined and imprisoned within such limits.
135A Electoral official to vacate office upon becoming a candidate
(1) In this section:electoral official means an election official, a postal voting officer, a deputy postal voting officer, a pre-poll voting officer, an assistant appointed for the purposes of Division 11 or an assistant to the Electoral Commissioner.
(2) Upon any electoral official becoming a candidate for an election, he or she vacates his or her office as an electoral official.
136 Penalty for neglect etc by electoral officials
If any electoral official as defined in section 135A, at any election, is guilty of any wilful misfeasance, or wilful or negligent act of commission or omission in violation of any of the provisions herein contained and not otherwise provided for, he or she shall, for every such offence, be liable to a penalty not exceeding 10 penalty units.
137 Appointment of and declaration by scrutineers
(1) This section applies to scrutineers appointed under this Act.Note. Sections 90, 114U and 114ZT provide for the appointment of scrutineers.(2) The regulations may prescribe a form for the purposes of this section that provides for both:(a) the appointment of a scrutineer by a candidate, and(b) a declaration to be made and signed by the scrutineer.If there is no prescribed form, the Electoral Commissioner may approve a form for the purposes of this section.
(3) The appointment by a candidate of a scrutineer is to be made in the form prescribed or approved under subsection (2).(4) A person appointed as a scrutineer is to make and sign a declaration in the form prescribed or approved under subsection (2).(5) The person appointed as a scrutineer cannot act as scrutineer on any day unless the person presents the completed form (comprising a single document) on that day to the returning officer or polling place manager or to the pre-poll voting officer, as the case requires.(6) The declaration is to be made and signed on each day referred to in subsection (5) before the returning officer or polling place manager or the pre-poll voting officer, as the case requires, at the place at which the scrutineer intends to act as scrutineer.(7) A reference in this section to a completed form includes a reference to a photocopy, carbon copy or similar identical copy of a completed form, but the copy is to be duly signed on each day as required by subsection (6).(8) Part 4 of the Oaths Act 1900 applies to a declaration made under this section as if it were made under that Act.(9) A person is not qualified for appointment as a scrutineer unless the person is an elector. A person is not ineligible for appointment as a scrutineer for a district merely because the person is not enrolled as an elector on the electoral roll for the district.