Western Australian Consolidated Regulations Western Australian Consolidated Regulations (1) The returning
officer before proceeding to count the number of votes to ascertain which
candidate is successful in the election shall —
(a)
check each counterfoil against the member’s name on the electoral roll
and, if the voting papers are in order, mark the roll;
(b)
remove the ballot paper envelope from the envelope addressed to the returning
officer and place the ballot paper envelope unopened into a separate container
until all counterfoils are checked; and
(c) when
all the counterfoils are checked and cleared, open the ballot paper envelopes,
and shall then proceed
with the count.
(2) Where any voting
papers are rejected, the returning officer shall replace the counterfoil and
the envelope marked “ballot paper” in the envelope in which they
were received, endorse the latter envelope “rejected” with the
reasons for rejection and set it aside for safe keeping.
(3) The returning
officer shall reject as informal a ballot paper that —
(a) does
not bear the initials of the returning officer or the facsimile of those
initials that is referred to in regulation 15(2)(a);
(b) has
upon it a mark or writing by which the voter can be identified; or
(c) is
not marked substantially in accordance with the instructions referred to in
regulation 14(3)(c).
(4) Where, during the
scrutiny, the returning officer is informed by a scrutineer appointed under
regulation 18 that the scrutineer objects to a ballot paper being
admitted as formal, or rejected as informal, as the case may be, the returning
officer shall decide the matter and endorse his decision on the ballot paper.