351AFinalising the count—postal elections

351A Finalising the count—postal elections

351A Finalising the count—postal elections

(1) This section applies only to postal elections.

(2) The returning officer, as soon as practicable after 6 pm on election day, is to open the ballot-boxes containing postal ballot-papers accepted for further scrutiny under section 347, take out the ballot-papers, scrutinise them and reject the informal ones.

(3) The returning officer must then do the following or have the following done—

(a) ascertain the result of the count in accordance with Schedule 4 or 5, depending on the system of election,

Note.

Section 285 of the Act specifies the circumstances in which the optional preferential (Schedule 4) and the proportional (Schedule 5) systems of election are to be used.

(b) inform the persons present of the result of the count,

(c) immediately notify the election manager of the result of the count,

(d) inform the candidates (in person, in writing, by facsimile, by telephone, by email, by text message or in any other way) as soon as practicable after the result is ascertained—

(i) of the result of the count, and

(ii) when the returning officer’s declaration under section 356 will be available for inspection at the office of the relevant council, and

(iii) that the information contained in the returning officer’s declaration under section 356 will be published on the election manager’s website for at least one month.

(4) For the purpose of ascertaining the result of the count, the returning officer may cause some or all of the ballot-papers to be sent to a ballot counting place appointed under section 345A to be counted in accordance with approved arrangements.