Presidential and Local Elections Act, 1945

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Number 15 of 1945.

PRESIDENTIAL AND LOCAL ELECTIONS ACT, 1945.

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

PART I.

Preliminary and General.

PART II.

Provisions in Relation to the Poll at the 1945 Presidential Election and the 1945 Local Elections.

Number 15 of 1945.

PRESIDENTIAL AND LOCAL ELECTIONS ACT, 1945.

AN ACT TO ENABLE THE POLL AT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION DUE TO BE HELD IN THE YEAR 1945 AND THE POLLS AT THE ELECTIONS OF MEMBERS OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES DUE TO BE HELD IN THAT YEAR TO BE TAKEN ON THE SAME DAY, AND TO PROVIDE FOR OTHER MATTERS RELATING TO THE MATTERS AFORESAID. [1st May, 1945.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

PART I.

Preliminary and General.

Short title.

1.—This Act may be cited as the Presidential and Local Elections Act, 1945.

Definitions.

2.—In this Act—

the expression “the Act of 1937” means the Presidential Elections Act, 1937 (No. 32 of 1937);

the word “constituency” has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 1937, as amended by this Act;

the expression “local authority” has the meaning assigned to it by the Order of 1942;

the expression “1945 local election” means an election of members of a local authority to be held in the year 1945;

the expression “the local returning officer” has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 1937, as amended by this Act;

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Local Government and Public Health;

the expression “the Order of 1942” means the Local Elections Order, 1942 ( S. R. & O., No. 255 of 1942 ), as amended by any subsequent order;

the expression “the 1945 presidential election” means the election to be held in the year 1945 of a person to the office of President;

the expression “secretary or clerk of a local authority” has the meaning assigned to it by the Order of 1942.

Operation of Part II.

3.—(1) Part II of this Act shall not come into operation save as is provided by subsection (2) of this section.

(2) If—

(a) the 1945 presidential election is adjourned, in pursuance of subsection (1) of section 12 of the Act of 1937, for the purpose of taking a poll, and

(b) such adjournment has not been cancelled in pursuance of subsection (4) of section 16 of the Act of 1937,

the Minister may by order declare that Part II of this Act shall come into operation and thereupon the said Part II shall come into operation forthwith.

PART II.

Provisions in Relation to the Poll at the 1945 Presidential Election and the 1945 Local Elections.

Application of Part II.

4.—This Part of this Act shall apply only in respect of the 1945 presidential election and the 1945 local elections.

Poll at 1945 local elections to be taken on same day as poll at 1945 presidential election.

5.—Notwithstanding anything contained in any enactment, the poll to be taken at any 1945 local election shall be taken on the same day as that on which the poll for the 1945 presidential election is to be taken.

Amendment of the Act of 1937.

6.—(1) Section 20 of the Act of 1937 shall, in its application to the 1945 presidential election, be construed and have effect as if the following paragraphs were substituted for paragraphs (c), (d), (e) and (f), that is to say:—

“(c) for the purpose of taking the poll each of the following shall be deemed a constituency—

(i) a county borough,

(ii) an administrative county (other than the administrative county of Mayo),

(iii) the area (in this section referred to as the North Mayo constituency) consisting of the county electoral areas of Swinford, Ballina and Killala, in the administrative county of Mayo,

(iv) the area (in this section referred to as the South Mayo constituency) consisting of the administrative county of Mayo except the portion thereof which is comprised in the North Mayo constituency,

and the poll shall be taken separately in each local electoral area into which each constituency is divided;

(d) for the purposes of the poll, the returning officer (in this Act referred to as the local returning' officer) for a constituency shall be—

(i) in the case of a county borough, the county registrar of that county borough,

(ii) in the case of an administrative county (other than the counties of Dublin, Cork, Tipperary (North Riding), Tipperary (South Riding) and Mayo), the county registrar of that county,

(iii) in the case of the administrative county of Dublin, the under-sheriff of the county of Dublin or, on that office ceasing to exist, the county registrar of the county of Dublin,

(iv) in the case of the administrative county of Cork, the under-sheriff of the county of Cork or, on that office ceasing to exist, the county registrar of the county of Cork,

(v) in the case of the administrative county of Tipperary (North Riding), the under-sheriff of the county of Tipperary or, on that office ceasing to exist, the county registrar of the county of Tipperary,

(vi) in the case of the administrative county of Tipperary (South Riding), the county registrar of the county of Tipperary,

(vii) in the case of the North Mayo constituency, the county registrar of the county of Mayo;

(viii) in the case of the South Mayo constituency, the under-sheriff of the county of Mayo or, on that office ceasing to exist, the county registrar of the county of Mayo;

(e) any person whose name is entered as a Dáil elector in the annual register, prepared under the Electoral Act, 1923 (No. 12 of 1923), for an administrative county (other than the county of Mayo) or a county borough and who desires to record his vote at the poll shall do so in the constituency which is such county or county borough, and every person whose name is entered as a Dáil elector in the annual register, prepared under the said Act, for the administrative county of Mayo, and who desires to vote at the poll, shall do so—

(i) in case his name is entered in the part of the said annual register which relates to the North Mayo constituency, in the North Mayo constituency,

(ii) in any other case, in the South Mayo constituency;

(f) each such constituency shall be deemed to be divided for the purposes of the poll into the same polling districts as those into which it is for the time being divided for the purposes of elections of members of local authorities (within the meaning of the Local Elections Order, 1942 ( S. R. & O., No. 255 of 1942 )), and the places which are for the time being appointed as polling places in each such polling district for the purposes of such elections shall be the polling places for the purpose of the taking of the poll;”.

(2) The registration officer for each registration area, within the meaning of the Electoral Act, 1923 (No. 12 of 1923), shall, in respect of each county or county borough electoral area in his registration area, prepare a separate list (having a distinguishing symbol) containing the surname, in alphabetical order, the Christian name, and the army number and unit of each person entitled to be registered as a postal voter in the register of electors (which will come into force on the 1st day of June, 1945) for that registration area, the names on each such list being numbered consecutively, and references, in section 29 of the Act of 1937 to a postal voters' list shall, in the application of that section to the 1945 presidential election, be construed as references to the lists prepared under this subsection.

(3) Where—

(a) a certificate is given (under section 22 of the Electoral Act, 1923 (No. 12 of 1923), as adapted and applied by the Order of 1942, and as extended by section 7 of this Act) to any person authorising him to vote at a polling station other than that at which he would otherwise be entitled to vote at a 1945 local election, and

(b) such person is entitled to vote at the 1945 presidential election,

the polling station specified in the certificate shall, for the purposes of Rule 7 of the First Schedule to the Act of 1937, be deemed to be the polling station allotted to such person.

Extension of section 22 of the Electoral Act, 1923, as applied by the Order of 1942, to members of the Gárda Síochána and Local Security Force.

7.—Where, a member of the Gárda Síochána or Local Security Force who is an elector at a 1945 local election is engaged on duties in connection with such election and his duties are, in the opinion of the local returning officer, such as to prevent him from voting at the polling station at which he would otherwise be entitled to vote, section 22 of the Electoral Act, 1923 (No. 12 of 1923), as adapted and applied by the Order of 1942, shall apply in respect of him as if he were employed by the returning officer for any purpose in connection with such election and the circumstances of his employment were, in the opinion of the returning officer, such as to prevent him from voting at the polling station at which he would otherwise be entitled to vote.

Infringement of secrecy.

8.—(1) Subsection (1) of section 31 of the Act of 1937 shall apply to any person to whom subsection (1) of section 28 of the Act of 1923 applies.

(2) Subsection (1) of section 28 of the Act of 1923 shall apply to any person to whom subsection (1) of section 31 of the Act of 1937 applies.

(3) Subsection (2) of section 31 of the Act of 1937 shall apply to any person to whom subsection (2) of section 28 of the Act of 1923 applies.

(4) Subsection (2) of section 28 of the Act of 1923 shall apply to any person to whom subsection (2) of section 31 of the Act of 1937 applies.

(5) In this section the expression “the Act of 1923” means the Electoral Act, 1923 (No. 12 of 1923), as adapted and applied by the Order of 1942.

Validity of ballot paper put in wrong ballot box.

9.—A ballot paper for the 1945 presidential election or any 1945 local election shall not be invalid by reason only of its being placed in a ballot box provided by the local returning officer which is not the appropriate ballot box.

Local returning officer to be returning officer at 1945 local elections in relation to taking of the poll.

10.—The local returning officer for a constituency shall, in relation to the taking of the poll in any local electoral area in the constituency for the purposes of a 1945 local election, be the returning officer.

Provisions in relation to qualification and nomination of candidates at a 1945 local election.

11.—For the purposes of the qualification and nomination of a candidate at a 1945 local election, any person, who is registered in the register of local government electors for a particular registration area which came into force on the 1st day of June, 1944, but is not registered in the register of local government electors for that registration area which will come into force on the 1st day of June, 1945, shall be deemed to be registered in such last-mentioned register.

Expenses of local returning officers in relation to 1945 local elections.

12.—(1) The charges of the local returning officer for a constituency for services and expenses rendered or incurred by him for the purposes or in connection with the taking of the poll at the 1945 local election of members of a local authority shall, for the purposes of section 21 of the Act of 1937, be deemed to be charges for services and expenses rendered or incurred by him for the purposes of or in connection with the taking of the poll at the 1945 presidential election, but the Minister for Finance shall apportion to that local authority such part of the said charges as are in his opinion referable to the services and expenses incurred by the local returning officer for the purposes of or in connection with the taking of the poll at such 1945 local election, and that local authority shall pay to the Minister for Finance the part so apportioned to it.

(2) Any moneys received by the Minister for Finance under this section shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the said Minister may direct.

Expenses of returning officers at 1945 local elections.

13.—The Minister shall prescribe for the purposes of the 1945 local elections a scale of maximum charges and every returning officer at a 1945 local election shall be entitled to his reasonable charges not exceeding the sum specified in the said scale in respect of services and expenses of the several kinds mentioned in the said scale which have been properly rendered or incurred by him for the purposes of or in connection with the holding of an 1945 local election.

Regulations.

14.—The Minister may by regulations provide for such matters, in relation to the poll at the 1945 presidential election and the 1945 local elections, as he considers necessary or expedient for giving effect to the provisions of this Part of this Act, and may in particular by any such regulations—

(a) provide for the issue of polling cards in the form prescribed by the regulations to persons entitled to vote at the 1945 presidential election,

(b) define the powers and duties of local returning officers, secretaries and clerks of local authorities and other persons employed in connection with the poll,

(c) make, for the purposes of the 1945 presidential election, such modifications of the Act of 1937 as appear to him to be necessary in order to enable that election to take place in accordance with this Act or to facilitate or expedite the conduct and completion of that election,

(d) make, for the purposes of the 1945 local elections, such modifications of the enactments relating to local elections or any order or regulations thereunder as appear to him to be necessary to enable those elections to take place in accordance with this Act or to facilitate or expedite the conduct and completion of those elections,

(e) provide that the ballot papers to be used at the 1945 presidential election shall be distinguishable, by the use of such device as the Minister specifies in the regulations, from those to be used at the 1945 local elections,

(f) provide for the use of the same or separate ballot boxes at a polling station in connection with the 1945 presidential election and any 1945 local election or elections.