South Australian Numbered Acts South Australian Numbered Acts170—Insertion of section 41A
After section 41 insert:
41A—Assisted voting
(1) The regulations may make provision in relation to voting in an election or poll by prescribed electors by means of an assisted voting method.
(2) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1)
, regulations made for the purposes of this section may—
(a) determine, or provide for the determination of, 1 or more assisted voting methods and, in relation to each such method, determine, or provide for the determination of, the following:
(i) matters related to voting using the assisted voting method, including the provision of assistance to electors using the method, requirements to be followed after an elector has used the method and matters of privacy and secrecy;
(ii) the number of places where the assisted voting method is to be available, the location of those places (if relevant) and the days and times at which the method is to be available;
(iii) which electors may use the assisted voting method; and
(b) require the making of a record of each person who has voted using an assisted voting method; and
(c) specify the information that is to be included in a record; and
(d) provide for the production of a record of the vote each person has cast, which must not contain any means of identifying the person who cast the vote; and
(e) provide for the appointment by the returning officer of officers in relation to the conduct of an assisted voting method; and
(f) provide for the application of this Act, or provisions of this Act, in relation to votes cast using an assisted voting method, including the modification of the application of this Act or a provision of this Act in relation to such votes; and
(g) make provision for any other matters related to assisted voting.
(3) To avoid doubt, nothing in this section (or in regulations made for the purposes of this section) authorises any elector to vote in more than 1 capacity at an election or poll.
(4) An assisted voting method must be such that an elector using the method in relation to an election or poll—
(a) receives the same information (in the same order), and has the same voting options, as would appear in the ballot paper for the election or poll that the elector would be given if the elector were voting by postal vote under this Part; and
(b) is able to indicate a vote in a way that, if the elector were marking a ballot paper, would not be an informal ballot paper.
(5) Subject to this section, if an elector votes using an assisted voting method (an "assisted vote")—
(a) this Act applies (subject to any modifications prescribed under subsection (2)(f)
) in relation to an assisted vote as if it were a vote delivered to an electoral officer for the relevant council in a sealed envelope; and
(b) the record of the assisted vote produced in accordance with the regulations is to be taken to be a ballot paper for the purposes of this Act; and
(c) the requirements of this Act in relation to the elector's right to receive a ballot paper are to be taken to have been satisfied.
(6) The returning officer may, by notice in the Gazette, determine that an assisted voting method is not to be used either generally or at 1 or more specified places.
(7) A notice under subsection (6)
must specify the election or poll in respect of which the determination applies.
(8) In this section—
"prescribed elector" means a sight-impaired elector or an elector of a class prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this definition;
"sight-impaired elector" means an elector whose sight is impaired such that the elector is unable to vote without assistance.