46Where electors may vote, and absent voting

#### 46 Where electors may vote, and absent voting (1) On the voting day for a referendum, an elector is entitled: (a) to vote at any polling place appointed for the Division for which he or she is enrolled; or (b) to vote as an absent voter, after making a declaration in an approved form, at any other polling place within the State or Territory for which he or she is enrolled at which a polling booth is open. > Note: See section 46AA for rules about voting by designated electors. (1A) On voting day for a referendum, a person who is provisionally enrolled is entitled to vote as an absent voter, after making a declaration in an approved form, at any polling place within the State or Territory for which he or she is provisionally enrolled at which a polling booth is open (other than a polling place for the Division for which he or she is provisionally enrolled). (1B) In this Part (other than section 45) and in Schedule 4: (a) a reference to an elector includes a reference to a person who has cast an absent vote under subsection (1A); and (b) a reference to the Division in which an elector is enrolled includes a reference to the Division in which the person is provisionally enrolled. (2) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (1A), where a hospital is a polling place, an elector is not entitled to vote at that polling place otherwise than under section 48 unless an appropriate person on the staff of the hospital has agreed to permit electors generally to vote at that polling place or unless the elector: (a) is attending the hospital as a patient or as a genuine visitor of a patient; or (b) performs functions or duties in the hospital. (3) A declaration made by an absent voter under subsection (1) or (1A) shall be printed on, or securely attached to, an envelope addressed to the Divisional Returning Officer for the Division for which the elector declares that he or she is enrolled. (4) An elector who votes as an absent voter must mark the ballot paper in the manner prescribed by this Act and return it to the presiding officer or a polling official. (5) The presiding officer or polling official shall thereupon, in the presence of the elector, and without unfolding the ballot paper enclose it in the envelope referred to in subsection (3) of this section and shall forthwith securely fasten the envelope and deposit it in the ballot‑box. (9) Where the voting day for a referendum is the same as that fixed for the polling at an election: (a) a declaration made for the purposes of the election under subsection 222(1) or (1A) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 shall be deemed to be a declaration made under subsection (1) or (1A) (as the case requires) of this section; (b) the agreement of an appropriate person on the staff of a hospital under subsection 222(2) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 shall be deemed to be agreement under subsection (2) of this section; and (c) a ballot paper containing the vote of a person voting as an absent voter under this section may be enclosed in the same envelope as that in which the ballot paper containing the vote of that person voting as an absent voter under section 222 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 is enclosed.