South Australian Consolidated Regulations South Australian Consolidated Regulations (1) The board
must—
(a)
cause the details of the proposal upon which the ballot is to be held to be
set out in a statement; and
(b) fix
the dates for—
(i)
the forwarding of ballots to members; and
(ii)
the closing of the ballot; and
(c)
appoint a returning officer for the ballot.
(2) Every ballot must
be conducted by the returning officer appointed by the board.
(1) A director of the
co-operative may not be appointed as a returning officer.
(2) The returning
officer may be assisted in the performance of his or her duties by any person
(who would be eligible to be a returning officer) appointed by the returning
officer.
3—Preparation of the voting roll and the ballot papers
(1) The returning
officer must prepare a roll of the full names and addresses of the members of
the co-operative, as disclosed by the register of members, directors and
shares, together with particulars of the number of votes each member would be
entitled to exercise upon a poll.
(2) A person whose
name is on the roll is entitled to vote in the ballot, and no person is
otherwise so entitled.
(3) The returning
officer must cause ballot papers to be prepared in or to the effect of Form 1
of this Schedule.
(4) Each ballot paper
must be initialled by the returning officer or an appointed assistant.
(5) The returning
officer must, at least 21 days prior to the date fixed for the closing of the
ballot, send by post or otherwise deliver to every member entitled to vote in
the ballot one set of the following material:
(a) one
ballot paper; and
(b) an
envelope (the outer envelope ) addressed to the returning officer; and
(c) a
smaller envelope (the middle envelope ), the reverse side of which must be
printed in or to the effect of Form 2 of this Schedule; and
(d) a
small envelope (the inner envelope ) into which the ballot paper is to be
enclosed; and
(e) a
copy of the statement prepared by the board setting out the details of the
proposal upon which the decision of the members is to be sought.
The returning officer may send a duplicate ballot paper to any voter if the
returning officer is satisfied—
(a) that
the voter has not received a ballot paper; or
(b) that
the ballot paper received by the voter has been lost, spoilt or destroyed and
that the voter has not already voted.
A member casts a vote in the ballot by—
(a)
completing the details on the reverse side of the middle envelope; and
(b)
marking his or her vote on the ballot paper according to the instructions on
the ballot paper; and
(c)
sending the ballot paper, in the envelopes provided, to the returning officer.
6—Safe keeping of ballot papers
(1) The returning
officer must provide a ballot box which must be locked immediately before the
ballot papers are delivered to members in accordance with clause 3(5) and
must remain locked until the close of the ballot.
(2) The returning
officer must place the outer envelopes in the ballot box not later than noon
on the date fixed for the closing of the ballot.
(1) Ballot papers
received after noon on the date fixed for the closing of the ballot must not
be taken into account at the ballot.
(2) As soon as
practicable after noon on the date fixed for the closing of the ballot, the
returning officer must, in the presence of such scrutineers as may be
appointed by the board, open the ballot box and deal with the contents in
accordance with subclause (3).
(3) The returning
officer must—
(a)
remove the middle envelope from the outer envelope; and
(b)
where a duplicate outer envelope has been issued and the original outer
envelope is received, reject the original envelope and mark it "rejected"; and
(c)
according to the information on the middle envelope, for each set of voting
papers returned, mark the voter's name on the roll by drawing a line through
the name; and
(d)
where a member's name has already been crossed out on the roll, reject the
postal vote and mark it "rejected"; and
(e) if
the middle envelope has not been signed, or if the details shown on the
envelope are not sufficient to disclose by whom the vote is being exercised,
reject the envelope and mark it "rejected"; and
(f)
extract the inner envelopes containing the ballot papers from all unrejected
middle envelopes, separating the contents from the middle envelopes in such a
way that no inner envelope could subsequently be identified with any
particular voter; and
(g) when
all the middle envelopes have been dealt with in the above manner, open all
unrejected inner envelopes and take the ballot papers from them.
(4) The ballot papers
must be scrutinised by the returning officer who must reject as informal any
ballot paper that—
(a) is
not duly initialled by the returning officer; or
(b) is
so imperfectly marked that the intention of the voter cannot be ascertained by
the returning officer; or
(c) has
any mark or writing not authorised by this Schedule which, in the opinion of
the returning officer, will enable the voter to be identified; or
(d) has
not been marked as prescribed on the ballot paper itself.
8—Statement by returning officer
(1) The returning
officer must count all votes cast and make out and sign a statement of—
(a) the
number of formal votes cast in favour of the proposal; and
(b) the
number of formal votes cast against the proposal; and
(c) the
number of informal votes cast; and
(d) the
number of middle envelopes marked "rejected"; and
(e) the
proportion of the formal votes polled which were in the affirmative.
(2) On the declaration
of the returning officer of the result of the postal ballot, the board of the
co-operative must cause an entry to be made in the minute book showing the
particulars referred to in clause 8(1)(a) to (c).
(3) The returning
officer must forward a copy of the statement to the chairperson of the board
of the co-operative who must announce the result of the ballot at the next
general meeting.
9—Notification of the result of the ballot
(1) A co-operative
must give notification of the result of a ballot (other than a ballot
conducted to alter the rules of a co-operative) by displaying the result on
the notice board at the registered office of the co-operative.
(2) In the case of a
postal ballot conducted to alter the rules of a co-operative, the co-operative
must cause the result of the ballot to be notified in writing to its members
as soon as practicable after the alteration takes effect and, in any event,
not later than the date on which notice is given to the members of the next
annual general meeting of the co-operative following the date on which the
alteration takes effect.
10—Retention of ballot papers etc
The returning officer must retain all ballot papers and outer envelopes used
for a postal ballot until the board authorises their destruction (and the
board must not authorise their destruction earlier than 12 months after the
day on which notification of the result of the ballot is given under
clause 9).
