with the permission of the presiding officer, again be allowed to enter the polling station during the day. Any person so removed as aforesaid, if charged with the commission in such station of any offence, may be kept in custody until he can be brought before a justice of the peace. Provided that the powers conferred by this section shall not be exercised so as to prevent any elector who is otherwise entitled to vote at any polling station from having an opportunity of voting at such station. Appendix. Sect. 9. and adminis 10. For the purpose of the adjournment of the poll, and of Powers of preevery other enactment relating to the poll, a presiding officer siding officer shall have the power by law belonging to a deputy returning tration of officer; and any presiding officer and any clerk appointed by oaths, &c. the returning officer to attend at a polling station shall have the power of asking the questions and administering the oath authorized by law to be asked of and administered to voters, and any justice of the peace and any returning officer may take and receive any declaration authorized by this Act to be taken before him. The oath authorized by law is prescribed by 6 Vict. c. 18, s. 81. As to the administration of this oath at municipal elections, see Division III. pp. 285, 286. misconduct. 11. Every returning officer, presiding officer, and clerk who is Liability of guilty of any wilful misfeasance or any wilful act or omission in officers for contravention of this Act shall, in addition to any other penalty or liability to which he may be subject, forfeit to any person aggrieved by such misfeasance, act, or omission a penal sum not exceeding one hundred pounds. Section fifty of the Representation of the People Act, 1867 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102. (which relates to the acting of any returning officer, or his partner or clerk, as agent for a candidate), shall apply to any returning officer or officer appointed by him in pursuance of this Act, and to his partner or clerk. Where a clerk commits a breach of duty he is personally liable in an action for damages. (See Pickering v. James, L. R. 8 C. P. 489, and note to sect. 2, ante.) Miscellaneous. Sect. 12 relates to the disclosure of the way in which a person has voted. The Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, s. 104, provides, that no person in any proceeding to question an election, shall be required to state for whom he has voted. Appendix. Sect. 13. Non-compliance with rules. Use of municipal ballot vice versa. 13. No election shall be declared invalid by reason of a noncompliance with the rules contained in the First Schedule to this Act, or any mistake in the use of the forms in the Second Schedule to this Act, if it appears to the tribunal having cognizance of the question that the election was conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the body of this Act, and that such non-compliance or mistake did not affect the result of the election. See also sect. 72 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, and the cases of Woodward v. Sarsons, L. R. 10 C. P. 733; 32 L. T. (N.s) 867; and Northcote v. Pulsford, L. R. 10 C. P. 476; 32 L. T. (N.s) 602, referred to in the notes thereon. As to a misstatement of the number on the burgess roll in a nomination paper, see Gothard v. Clarke, L. R. 5 C. P. D. 253, quoted at p. 263, ante. In a recent case of a municipal election in Scotland, the presiding officer marked the electors' number on the register on about one-third of the total ballot papers issued as well as on the counterfoils. It was not proved that any one was thereby deterred from voting, and the irregularity was stopped as soon as it was pointed out. The same candidates were successful whether the ballot papers so marked were counted or not; but the order in which they stood differed according to the alternative adopted, and the order in which the councillors fell to retire might, in certain possible circumstances, come to depend on the order in which they had stood at the election. Held, that the voting papers marked as aforesaid were invalidated, but that the cir cumstances were not sufficient to avoid the election. At the same election the returning officer committed serious irregularities in violation of the rules of the Ballot Act during the counting of the votes, and in dealing with the voting papers afterwards, in consequence of which the votes of electors might have been disclosed; but there was no evidence of systematic violation of the principle of secret voting, and the result of the election was not affected by the irregularities. The Court being of opinion that the election had been, notwithstanding the irregularities, conducted in accordance with the principles of the Act, held that there was no ground for avoiding the election. (Deans v. The Magistrates of Haddington, 9 Court of Sessions' Cases, 4th series, p. 1077.) 14. Where a parliamentary borough and municipal borough boxes, &c., for occupy the whole or any part of the same area, any ballot boxes parliamentary or fittings for polling stations and compartments provided for election, and such parliamentary borough or such municipal borough may be used in any municipal or parliamentary election in such borough free of charge, and any damage other than reasonable wear and tear caused to the same shall be paid as part of the expenses of the election at which they are so used. Construction of Act. As to the use of the boxes, &c., at a parliamentary election, see further, sect. 6 of 38 & 39 Vict. c. 84. 15. This part of this Act shall, so far as is consistent with the tenor thereof, be construed as one with the enactments for Sect. 15. the time being in force relating to the representation of the Appendix. people, and to the registration of persons entitled to vote at the election of members to serve in Parliament, and with any enactments otherwise relating to the subject matter of this part of this Act, and terms used in this part of this Act shall have the same meaning as in the said enactments; and in construing the said enactments relating to an election or to the poll or taking the votes by poll, the mode of election and of taking the poll established by this Act shall for the purposes of the said enactments be deemed to be substituted for the mode of election or poll, or taking the votes by poll, referred to in the said enactments; and any person applying for a ballot paper under this Act shall be deemed "to tender his vote," or "to assume to vote," within the meaning of the said enactments; and any application for a ballot paper under this Act, or expressions relative thereto, shall be equivalent to "voting" in the said enactments and any expressions relative thereto; and the term "polling booth" as used in the said enactments shall be deemed to include a polling station; and the term "proclamation" as used in the said enactments shall be deemed to include a public notice given in pursuance of this Act. Sect. 16 relates only to Scotland. PART II. MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS. Sect. 20 is repealed by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, First Schedule, Part I. The provisions in lieu thereof will be found in Part III. of the Third Schedule of that Act. Sect. 21 is repealed by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, First Schedule, Part I. The substituted provisions will be found in sects. 29 and 62 of that Act. Sects. 22 and 23 relate only to Scotland and Ireland. PART III. PERSONATION. 24. The following enactments shall be made with respect to Definition personation at parliamentary and municipal elections: and punishment of A person shall for all purposes of the laws relating to parlia- personation, Section 24. Appendix, mentary and municipal elections be deemed to be guilty of the offence of personation who at an election for a county or borough, or at a municipal election, applies for a ballot paper in the name of some other person, whether that name be that of a person living or dead, or of a fictitious person, or who having voted once at any such election applies at the same election for a ballot paper in his own name. The offence of personation, or of aiding, abetting, counselling, or procuring the commission of the offence of personation by any person, shall be a felony, and any person convicted thereof shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, together with hard labour. It shall be the duty of the returning officer to institute a prosecution against any person whom he may believe to have been guilty of personation, or of aiding, abetting, counselling, or procuring the commission of the offence of personation by any person, at the election for which he is returning officer, and the costs and expenses of the prosecutor and the witnesses in such case, together with compensation for their trouble and loss of time, shall be allowed by the court in the same manner in which courts are empowered to allow the same in cases of felony. The provisions of the Registration Acts, specified in the Third Schedule to this Act, shall in England and Ireland respectively apply to personation under this Act in the same manner as they apply to a person who knowingly personates and falsely assumes to vote in the name of another person as mentioned in the said Acts. The offence of personation shall be deemed to be a corrupt practice within the meaning of the Parliamentary Elections Act, 1868. The part omitted relates only to the trial of parliamentary election petitions. The provisions of the Registration Acts will be found ante (6 & 7 Vict. c. 18. ss. 85-89). The provisions for the time being in force for the detection of personation, and for the apprehension of persons charged with personation, at a parlia mentary election are to apply in the case of a municipal election. (See sect. 86 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882.) As to corrupt practices within the meaning of the Parliamentary Elections Act, 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. 125), see post. Sect. 25 relates to votes that may be struck off on a scrutiny on the trial of a parliamentary election petition. The 85th section of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, provides that the votes of persons of whom any corrupt practice is proved, at a municipal election, may be struck off on 's scrutiny. The vote can only be struck off when the voter has acted corruptly. Appendix. (See In re Boston Election Petition, Malcolm v. Parry and Ingram, L. R. 9 C. P. 610.) Sect. 26 relates only to Scotland. Note s. 25. 27. This part of this Act, so far as regards parliamentary Construction elections, shall be construed as one with "The Parliamentary of part of Act. Elections Act, 1868," and shall apply to an election for a university or combination of universities. PART IV. MISCELLANEOUS. schedules, 28. The schedules to this Act, and the notes thereto, and Effect of directions therein, shall be construed and have effect as part of this Act. 29. In this Act Definitions. The expression "municipal borough" means any place for the "Municipal time being subject to the Municipal Corporation Acts, or borough." any of them: Acts." The expression "Municipal Corporation Acts" means- "Municipal (a.) As regards England, the Act of the session of the fifth corporation and sixth years of the reign of King William the Fourth, chapter seventy-six, intituled "An Act to provide for the regulation of municipal corporations in England and Wales," and the Acts amending the same. The expression "municipal election" means— (a.) As regards England, an election of any person to serve the office of councillor, auditor, or assessor of any muninicipal borough, or of councillor for a ward of a municipal borough. The paragraphs omitted relate only to Scotland and Ireland. 30. This Act shall apply to any parliamentary or municipal Application election which may be held after the passing thereof. Sect. 31 relates only to an election for a university. Sect. 32 repeals the statutes mentioned in the schedules to the extent therein mentioned. Sect. 33 provides a short title for the Act, namely, "The Ballot Act, 1872," and relates to the time it shall continue in force. By 45 & 46 Vict. c. 64, the time is extended to the end of 1883. of Act. |