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This is an official version. Copyright © 2000: Queen's Printer, Important Information
Statutes of Newfoundland 1993 CHAPTER 19 AN ACT TO AMEND THE CITY OF MOUNT PEARL ACT (Assented to June 18, 1993) Analysis 1. S.318(4) R&S 2. S.328 R&S 3. S.329 Amdt. 4. S.330(2)(b) Amdt. 5. S.334 R&S 6. S.337(2) Rep. 7. S.338(3) & (4) Added 8. S.343 R&S 9. Ss. R&S 10. S.347 Amdt. 11. S.348 Amdt. 12. S.351(1) Amdt. 13. S.352 R&S 14. S.357.1 Added 15. S.362(b) R&S 16. S.364 Amdt. 17. S.378(7) & (8) Added 18. S.382 Amdt. 19. S.382.1 Added 20. S.388(1) R&S 21. S.389 R&S 22. S.391 R&S 23. S.395(4) R&S 24. S.399(2) R&S 25. Sch. C Amdt. Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows: RSN 1990 cC-16 as amended 1. Subsection 318(4) of the City of Mount Pearl Act is repealed and the following substituted: (4) Where no person is nominated for a by-election held under subsection (1) and the minister does not appoint a person to fill the vacancy under subsection 319(1) or does not reduce the number of councillors, the council shall order a new by-election. 2. Section 328 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: Notice 328. Notice of the time and place fixed for nominating candidates and of the time and place of holding the poll, where a poll is granted, shall be posted up by the returning officer in not less than 2 places in the city for the 10 days before the time fixed for the nomination of candidates, and published in a newspaper having general circulation in the city, where there is such a newspaper, during that period. 3. (1) Paragraph 329(1)(a) of the Act is amended by striking out the words "or ward". (2) Subsection 329(3) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: (3) A person is not qualified to be nominated as councillor where (a) he or she was a member of a council that was dismissed; (b) he or she was individually dismissed as a member of a council; or (c) his or her seat has been declared vacant by the council to which he or she was elected as provided for under this Act where the election is held within 2 years of the date of the dismissal or the date on which the seat is declared vacant. 4. Paragraph 330(2)(b) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: (b) shall state the name and residence of the candidate; 5. Section 334 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: Notice of candidates 334. The returning officer shall, within 7 days after the date on which nominations are to be filed, give notice of the names of the candidates by publishing them in a newspaper circulating in the city, where there is such a newspaper, and by posting up notices in at least 2 public places in the city or in the wards in which elections are to be held. 6. Subsection 337(2) of the Act is repealed. 7. Section 338 of the Act is amended by adding immediately after subsection (2) the following: (3) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where an election official is assigned to a polling division other than that in which he or she ordinarily lives on election day that election official may only vote in the polling division to which he or she has been assigned or at an advance poll or by proxy. (4) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (3), where an election official is assigned to a polling division in a ward other than the ward in which he or she ordinarily lives on election day that election official may only vote at an advance poll or by proxy. 8. Section 343 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: Notice of advance poll 343. The returning officer shall give notice of the time and place of the advance poll by publishing the time and place of the advance poll at least once in the 7 days before the advance poll in a newspaper circulating in the city, where there is such a newspaper, and by public notice in at least 2 places in the city. 9. Sections 344, 345 and 346 of the Act are repealed and the following substituted: Conduct of advance poll 344. (1) The advance poll shall be conducted in the same manner as is provided for the conduct of other polling booths in an election, except that upon the ballot box being sealed at the opening of the 1st day of the advance poll, it shall remain sealed until opened for the counting of ballots after the close of the polling booths on polling day. (2) A ballot box that is used in the conduct of an advance poll shall not be used on polling day. Voters at advance poll 345. A voter who is otherwise eligible to vote and who is (a) a physically disabled person; (b) an election official; or (c) a person who has reason to believe that he or she will be absent from the city on polling day may vote at an advance poll. Record of advance poll 346. At an advance poll the poll clerk shall record in the poll book the names of the voters who vote at the advance poll and the polling divisions in which the voters live. 10. (1) Subsection 347(1) of the Act is amended by (a) striking out the word "or" at the end of paragraph (e); and (b) striking out the period at the end of paragraph (f), substituting a semi-colon and adding the following: (g) a hunter or trapper in the course of his or her occupation; (h) an election official; (i) physically disabled; or (j) a person who has reason to believe that he or she will be absent from the polling division in which he or she is ordinarily resident on polling day. (2) Subsection 347(3) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: (3) An application under subsection (2) from a student referred to in paragraph (1)(d) shall include a certificate signed by the registrar of the educational institution in which the student is enrolled. (3) Subsection 347(5) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: (5) An application under subsection (2) shall be given to the returning officer by the impeditive voter or his or her designated proxy at least 3 working days before the day of the election in respect of which it is made. 11. Section 348(2) of the Act is amended by striking out the word "descriptions" and substituting the word "addresses". 12. (1) Paragraph 351(1)(a) of the Act is amended by striking out the words "and occupations or descriptions". (2) Paragraph 351(1)(b) of the Act is amended by striking out the words "with their occupations or descriptions". 13. Section 352 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: Publication of lists 352. The list of voters shall, for a period of 10 working days from the day on which it is completed, be open to the inspection of the public at a place within the limits of the city to be named by the returning office and notified by him or her to the public by notices published in a newspaper having general circulation in the city, where there is such a newspaper, and by posting up notices in at least 2 places in the city or ward. 14. The Act is further amended by adding immediately after section 357 the following: Employees time to vote 357.1 (1) An employee who is qualified to vote at an election, is, while the polls are open on polling day at an election, entitled to have 4 consecutive hours for the purpose of casting his or her vote. (2) When the hours of employment of a person described in subsection (1) do not allow for 4 consecutive hours, his or her employer shall allow the person the additional time for voting that is necessary to provide the 4 consecutive hours. (3) An employer shall not make a deduction from the pay of an employee or impose upon or exact from the employee a penalty by reason of absence from his or her work during the 4 consecutive hours that the employee is entitled to under this section for the purpose of casting his or her vote. (4) Additional time for voting required under subsection (2) may be granted at the convenience of the employer. 15. Paragraph 362(b) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: (b) shall then immediately seal the ballot box, place it in view for the reception of ballot papers and keep it sealed until the close of the poll. 16. Section 364 of the Act is amended by striking out the words "name, residence and occupation or description" and substituting the words "name and residence". 17. Section 378 of the Act is amended by adding immediately after subsection (6) the following: (7) Where a polling station is not accessible to a disabled person, the returning officer or deputy returning officer in charge of the polling station shall, (a) suspend temporarily the voting in the polling station; and (b) carry the ballot box, poll book, ballot papers and other necessary election documents to a place which is accessible to the disabled person and is in close proximity to the entrance to the polling station. (8) The procedure to be followed in taking the vote of a disabled person under subsection (7) shall, where circumstances permit, be the same as if the disabled person had entered the polling station to vote. 18. Paragraph 382(1)(a) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: (a) that have not been initialled by him or her, either at the time the vote was cast or as provided for in section 382.1; 19. The Act is further amended by adding immediately after section 382 the following: Ballots found not initialled 382.1 (1) Where, in the course of counting the votes, the returning officer or deputy returning officer discovers that he or she has omitted to affix his or her initials on the back of a ballot the officer shall, in the presence of the poll clerk and a candidate or an agent of a candidate who may be present, affix his or her initials to that ballot and count the ballot as if it had been initialled by him or her in the first place. (2) Subsection (1) applies only when the returning officer or deputy returning officer is satisfied that (a) the ballot is one that has been supplied by him or her; and (b) the omission of his or her initials has really been made, and that every ballot supplied to him or her has been accounted for. (3) Nothing in subsection (1) or (2) relieves the returning officer or the deputy returning officer from a penalty to which he or she might have been liable by reason of a failure to affix his or her initials on the back of a ballot before handing it to the voter. 20. Subsection 388(1) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: Delivery of ballot box 388. (1) The returning officer, or deputy returning officer, shall then immediately seal the ballot box and the opening of the ballot box and in the case of a deputy returning officer shall immediately deliver it personally to the returning officer. 21. Section 389 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: Sealing ballot boxes 389. (1) Unless it is otherwise ordered by the Supreme Court or a judge of the Supreme Court, or unless a recount is demanded, the ballot boxes shall remain sealed as handed to the returning officer and retained by him or her for a period of 30 days after the election and until the termination of a legal proceeding instituted to test the validity of the election taken within that period of time. (2) When the time has elapsed under subsection (1), the ballot boxes shall be unsealed and the contents of the boxes shall be destroyed by the returning officer. 22. Section 391 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: Tie vote 391. If, upon the counting of the votes, 2 or more candidates have an equal number of votes where both or all of those candidates cannot be elected, the returning officer shall immediately (a) write the names of those candidates on separate, identical blank sheets of paper; (b) fold the sheets of paper in an identical manner so that the names are concealed; (c) deposit them in a receptacle and withdraw the number of the sheets necessary to elect the candidates required to be elected; and (d) declare the candidates whose names appear on the sheet withdrawn to be elected. 23. Subsection 395(4) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: (4) The candidate who requests the recount shall pay the cost of that recount in an amount that the returning officer may certify, where as a result of the recount there is no change in the outcome of the election. 24. Subsection 399(2) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: (2) In the event of a tie the casting vote shall be given by the returning officer in the same manner as provided in section 391. 25. (1) Form A of Schedule C is amended by striking out the word and brackets "(Occupation)" and the line above the word. (2) Form D of Schedule C is amended by striking out the words "Merchant", "Fisherman", "Labourer" and "Lawyer". (3) Form F of Schedule C is amended by striking out the word "Occupation". #9; ©Earl G. Tucker, Queen's Printer |