Electoral Act, 1960

Voting by postal voters.

8.—(1) Section 21 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsections for subsections (1) to (4):

“(1) Every elector whose name is, at the time of a Dáil election, on the postal voters list for a constituency shall be entitled to vote in that constituency at the poll at such election by sending his ballot paper by post to the returning officer for the said constituency and shall not be entitled to vote in any other manner.

(2) The returning officer shall, in the case of a contested Dáil election, as soon as practicable after the adjournment of the election, send to every person whose name is on the postal voters list for his constituency a ballot paper and a form of receipt (which shall be in the prescribed form) for such ballot paper.

(3) If such ballot paper duly marked by the said person and accompanied by the said receipt duly signed by him is received by the returning officer before the close of the poll, it shall be counted by him and treated for all purposes in the same manner as a ballot paper placed in the ballot box in the ordinary way.”

(2) The Fourth Schedule to the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution of “receipt” for “declaration of identity” or “declaration” wherever those words occur in Rules 1, 3, 6, 7 and 9,

(b) by the deletion of “and authenticated” in paragraph (4) and (5) of Rule 6 and in paragraph (1) of Rule 7, and

(c) by the substitution of “receipts” for “declarations” in paragraph (2) of Rule 7.