Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

COMMONWEALTH ELECTORAL ACT 1918 - SECT 224

  (1)   In this section, hospital means a hospital that is a polling place.

  (2)   Where:

  (a)   a patient in a hospital is:

  (i)   in the case of a by - election--entitled to vote in that election; or

  (ii)   in any other case--an elector for the State or Territory in which the hospital is situated; and

  (b)   the patient wishes to vote at the hospital;

the presiding officer shall visit the patient for the purpose of taking the patient's vote.

  (3)   When visiting the patient, the presiding officer shall:

  (a)   take to the patient a ballot - box, a ballot paper, and anything else necessary to enable the patient to vote; and

  (b)   be accompanied by a polling official and such scrutineers (if any) as wish to attend.

  (4)   The visit to the patient shall be made between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on polling day or a day to which polling is adjourned for the election.

  (5)   While the presiding officer is in the same room, ward or other place as the patient, this Act applies in relation to the taking of the vote of the patient as if the room, ward or place were part of a polling booth at a polling place.

  (6)   A polling booth at a hospital shall be attended by a polling official at all times when the presiding officer is absent from the booth for the purpose of visiting a patient.