Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1986

Duties of returning officer in relation to votes by special voters.

13.—(1) The returning officer shall deal with the packets delivered to him by a special presiding officer pursuant to section 12 of this Act in the same manner as he would deal, in accordance with the provisions of the Acts, with other packets containing similar documents and materials relating to an election.

(2) The returning officer shall place the covering envelopes returned to him by a special presiding officer pursuant to section 12 of this Act in the postal voters ballot box and the covering envelopes and the documents contained therein shall thereafter be treated as if they were envelopes and documents returned to the returning officer by postal voters.

(3) In the application of the provisions of the Acts relating to postal voters to special voters—

(a) a reference to “receipt” shall, in relation to documents appropriate to special voters, be construed as a reference to “declaration of identity”, and

(b) a reference to “receipt duly signed”, in relation to such documents, shall be construed as a reference to “declaration of identity duly signed and witnessed”, and

(c) if the covering envelope does not have the label referred to in section 11 of this Act attached thereto or if such label is not duly signed by the special presiding officer and the member of the Garda Síochána, the returning officer shall reject the covering envelope and deal with it as if it were a receipt which had not been duly signed.