Presidential and Local Elections Act, 1945

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.