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42 1947

SEANAD ELECTORAL (PANEL MEMBERS) ACT, 1947

Chapter III.

The Poll.

The electorate.

44. —(1) At every Seanad general election the electorate shall consist of:—

(a) the members of Dáil Eireann elected at the Dáil election consequent on the dissolution of Dáil Eireann which occasioned such Seanad general election, and

(b) the members of Seanad Eireann, and

(c) the members of every council of a county or county borough.

(2) In subsection (1) of this section, a reference to members of a council of a county or county borough shall, where the members of the council stand removed from office under Part IV of the Local Government Act, 1941 (No. 23 of 1941), be construed as a reference to the surviving persons who were members of the council immediately before the removal and have not, since the removal, suffered any such adjudication in bankruptcy or conviction of a crime or offence as would, in the case of a member of the council, have terminated his membership.

The electoral roll for Seanad general election.

45. —(1) The Seanad returning officer shall prepare an electoral roll containing the names, addresses and descriptions of the persons constituting the electorate at a Seanad general election.

(2) The Clerk of Dáil Eireann shall, not later than three days after he has received all the returns to the writs for a Dáil election, send to the Seanad returning officer a statement of the names, addresses and descriptions of the members of Dáil Eireann who are entitled under this Act to be members of the electorate at the ensuing Seanad general election.

(3) The secretary of the council of a county or town clerk of a county borough shall, not later than fifteen days after a dissolution of Dáil Eireann, send to the Seanad returning officer a statement of the names, addresses and descriptions of the members or former members of the council of the county or county borough who are entitled under this Act to be members of the electorate at the ensuing Seanad general election.

(4) Where a person is a member of the electorate for a Seanad general election by virtue of more than one qualification, his name shall nevertheless be entered once only in the electoral roll for the election.

(5) It shall be lawful for the Seanad returning officer to make such inquiries and take such steps as he thinks proper for ascertaining the correct name, address or description of every person whose name is required to be entered in an electoral roll under this section, but no omission of or inaccuracy in the name, address, or description of any person in an electoral roll under this section shall invalidate the roll.

(6) An electoral roll prepared under this section shall be final and conclusive and not open to review by any court, and the persons whose names are set out in the roll, and no other person, shall be entitled to vote at the Seanad general election to which the roll relates.

(7) The death of a person whose name is entered in an electoral roll under this section shall not prejudice or affect the validity or operation of the roll, whether such death occurred before or occurs after the preparation of the roll.

Issue of copy of panels.

46. —As soon as practicable after the completion of the electoral roll in respect of a Seanad general election or the publication in relation to the election of the panels in the Iris Oifigiúil (whichever happens later) and in any event before the day on which the ballot papers are to be issued, the Seanad returning officer shall send by post to each person whose name is on the electoral roll, at his address as stated on the electoral roll, a copy of the five panels as published in the Iris Oifigiúil, but with the modification that there shall, in such copy, be inserted in respect of every person on any panel a statement of the body or persons on whose nomination he was put on such panel.

The ballot papers for Seanad general election.

47. —(1) The following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to the ballot papers at a Seanad general election:

(a) there shall be different ballot papers for each panel;

(b) a ballot paper shall contain the names, addresses, and descriptions of all the candidates named in the panel to which it relates arranged in the alphabetical order of their surnames and, in cases of identity of surname, of their other names, and either in one continuous column or in two or more columns as the Seanad returning officer, with the consent of the Minister, considers to be most convenient;

(c) a ballot paper shall also state, in respect of every candidate named therein, the sub-panel in which he is named as a candidate;

(d) the surnames of the several candidates shall be printed on a ballot paper in large characters and their other names and their addresses and descriptions shall be printed in small characters, save that, whenever the surnames of two or more candidates are the same, there shall be printed in large characters (in addition to their surnames) the other names of such candidates and so much of the address or the description or of both the address and the description of each such candidate as will, in the opinion of the Seanad returning officer, effectively distinguish such candidate.

(2) Subject to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, the ballot papers shall be in the prescribed form and each ballot paper shall have a number printed on the back thereof and shall have attached thereto a counterfoil with the same number printed on the face of such counterfoil, and every ballot paper shall, at the time of issue thereof, be marked on both sides thereof with an official mark either stamped or perforated.

Method of marking votes on ballot paper at Seanad general election.

48. —(1) An elector in marking a ballot paper at a Seanad general election must place on the ballot paper the figure 1 opposite the name of the candidate for whom he votes, and he may in addition place on the ballot paper the figures 2 and 3, or 2, 3 and 4, and so on, opposite the names of other candidates in the order of his preference.

(2) Any ballot paper—

(a) which does not bear the official mark, or

(b) on which the figure 1 standing alone is not placed at all or is not so placed as to indicate a first preference for some candidate, or

(c) on which the figure 1 standing alone indicating a first preference is set opposite the name of more than one candidate, or

(d) on which the figure 1 standing alone indicating a first preference and some other number is set opposite the name of the same candidate, or

(e) on which anything except the number on the back is written or marked by which the voter can be identified,

shall be invalid and shall not be counted.

Sending of ballot papers to electors at Seanad general election.

49. —(1) On the day appointed for the issue of ballot papers at a Seanad general election the Seanad returning officer shall send by registered post to each person whose name is on the electoral roll for that election at the address stated on such electoral roll a ballot paper for each panel.

(2) Whenever a person to whom ballot papers for a Seanad general election should be sent under subsection (1) of this section states in writing to the Seanad returning officer that more than twenty-four hours have elapsed since such ballot papers should have been delivered to him in the ordinary course of post and that he has not received such ballot papers and that he desires duplicate ballot papers to be issued to him, the Seanad returning officer, if such statement is received by him not less than forty-eight hours before the close of the poll at the election, shall forthwith or, if such statement is received by him less than forty-eight hours before the close of the poll at the election, may send by registered post to such person at the address mentioned in subsection (1) of this section a ballot paper for each panel all of which, by being printed on paper of a special colour or otherwise, are clearly distinguished as duplicates of the ballot papers originally sent to such person.

(3) The Seanad returning officer shall, when sending out ballot papers in pursuance of this section, observe the rules contained in the First Schedule to this Act.

Issue of ballot papers.

50. —The Seanad returning officer shall issue the ballot papers at a Seanad general election in accordance with the rules contained in the First Schedule to this Act on the day appointed in that behalf by the relevant Seanad (general election) order.

Method of voting at Seanad general election.

51. —(1) Every person entitled to vote at a Seanad general election shall be entitled to vote at that election in the following and no other manner, that is to say, by marking one or more of the ballot papers sent to him under section 50 of this Act and returning by registered post to the Seanad returning officer all of those ballot papers together with the form of declaration of identity, furnished to him pursuant to the rules contained in the First Schedule to this Act, duly made and completed by him.

(2) Whenever a person entitled to vote at a Seanad general election states in writing to the Seanad returning officer that he duly returned by registered post to the Seanad returning officer the ballot papers and a form of declaration of identity and that the same does not appear to have been delivered to the Seanad returning officer and that he desires duplicate ballot papers to be issued to him, the Seanad returning officer, if such statement is received by him not less than forty-eight hours before the close of the poll at the election, shall forthwith or, if such statement is received by him less than forty-eight hours before the close of the poll at the election, may send by registered post to such person at his address as stated in the electoral roll a ballot paper for each panel all of which, by being printed on paper of a special colour or otherwise, are clearly distinguished as duplicates of the ballot papers originally sent to such person.

(3) The procedure to be followed in connection with the marking of the ballot papers at a Seanad general election and the sending of such papers to the Seanad returning officer shall be that specified in the rules contained in the First Schedule to this Act.

Allocation of members amongst the panels.

52. —The numbers of members of Seanad Eireann to be elected from each of the panels shall be as follows:—

(a) five members shall be elected from the cultural and educational panel, of whom two at least shall be elected from each sub-panel of that panel;

(b) eleven members shall be elected from the agricultural panel, of whom four at least shall be elected from each sub-panel of that panel;

(c) eleven members shall be elected from the labour panel, of whom four at least shall be elected from each sub-panel of that panel;

(d) nine members shall be elected from the industrial and commercial panel, of whom three at least shall be elected from each sub-panel of that panel;

(e) seven members shall be elected from the administrative panel, of whom three at least shall be elected from each sub-panel of that panel.

Ascertainment of result of Seanad general election.

53. —(1) The Seanad returning officer shall, in the presence of such candidates as may be in attendance, ascertain separately, in accordance with this Act and, in particular, the rules contained in the First and Second Schedules to this Act, the result of a Seanad general election in respect of each panel and shall declare to be elected from such panel the candidates who are so ascertained to be elected.

(2) The decision of the Seanad returning officer as to any question arising at a Seanad general election on the ballot papers, the envelopes containing the ballot papers, the declarations of identity or any other matter arising on the issue or the receipt of the ballot papers or on the counting of the votes shall be final, but subject, where an objection in writing to the decision has been delivered to the Seanad returning officer before the declaration of the result of the election, to review by a court trying an election petition in relation to the election.

Election petitions in relation to Seanad general elections.

54. —(1) The enactments relating to the presentation and trial of election petitions in relation to elections of members of Dáil Éireann shall apply to Seanad general elections with the following modifications:

(a) the court trying an election petition in relation to a Seanad general election shall not have power to declare the whole election to be void but may declare the election of any one or more of the candidates returned as elected at the election to be void or to be valid as justice may require;

(b) where the court so declares the election of a candidate to be void, the court shall declare that such one as justice may require of the candidates not returned as elected was elected;

(c) the said court shall have power to make such amendments as may be necessary to give effect to its decisions in the certificate of the Seanad returning officer of the result of the election;

(d) it shall not be obligatory on the said court to cause a recount to be made of the votes given for, or to investigate the voting or the counting of the votes in respect of, the candidates on a panel in relation to which the said court is satisfied that the voting in respect of the candidates on such panel is not in issue on the petition;

(e) references (including references by adaptation) to Dáil Eireann shall be construed as references to Seanad Eireann, and references (including references by adaptation) to the Chairman or the Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Eireann shall be construed as references to the Chairman of Seanad Eireann.

(2) A person who has voted at a Seanad general election shall not, in any legal proceedings to question the election or return of any candidate at the election, be required to state for whom he has voted.