Hong Kong Regulations

BOUNDARY AND ELECTION COMMISSION (ELECTORAL PROCEDURE) (FUNCTIONAL CONSTITUENCIES AND ELECTION COMMITTEE CONSTITUENCY) REGULATION - SECT 21

Duties of the Chief Electoral Officer in relation to polling stations

Caution: This is a past version. See the current version here.

(1) As regards an election or a by-election, the Chief Electoral Officer
shall-

        (a)	appoint a person ("the presiding officer") to preside at each 
polling station and such other persons as he considers necessary to assist
the presiding officer in the conduct of a poll;

   (b)  at least 10 days before the polling day, send to each elector entitled
        to vote at that polling station a poll card;

   (c)  after the publication of a notice of nominations under section  12 ,
        or on being satisfied that a nomination paper in respect of a
        candidate has been received by the returning officer, subject to
        subsection (2), supply to each-

        (i)    candidate an extract of that part of the final register which
               relates to the constituency in respect of which the candidate
               is nominated, containing such entries and particulars and in
               such form as may be determined by the Chief Electoral Officer
               (which may include a printed form or a form capable of being
               read by a computer), and containing such additional information
               (if any), so determined; and

        (ii)   returning officer, a copy of that part of the final register
               which relates to the constituency in respect of which that
               officer is appointed;

   (d)  provide in each polling station such number of compartments as he
        considers necessary to enable electors to vote screened from
        observation;

   (e)  supply to each presiding officer such number of ballot papers as he
        considers necessary in respect of each constituency in respect of
        which the polling station is designated and a copy of the appropriate
        part of the final register;

   (f)  provide at each polling station materials to enable electors to mark
        the ballot papers; and

   (g)  do such acts and things as are necessary for holding the poll
        effectively.

(2) Where an extract of the part of the final register required under
subsection (1)(c)(i) to be supplied to a candidate is supplied to the election
agent of the candidate, it shall be regarded for the purposes of that
subsection as having been supplied to the candidate.

(3) The Chief Electoral Officer shall provide-

   (a)  the returning officer; and

   (b)  each presiding officer, with a list of the names of the persons
        appointed under subsection (1)(a) in respect of the polling station
        for which that presiding officer is appointed.

(4) Each presiding officer shall display the list referred to in subsection
(3) in a prominent place in the polling station for which he is appointed.

(5) An elector who is not otherwise entitled to vote at a specified polling
station and who claims-

   (a)  to be a person with a disability; and

   (b)  that access to the polling station at which he is entitled to vote is
        difficult for him due to such disability, may apply to the Chief
        Electoral Officer, not less than 5 days before the polling day, to
        vote at the specified polling station designated for the constituency
        in respect of which he is entitled to vote.

(6) Where the Chief Electoral Officer receives an application under subsection
(5)-

   (a)  he may allocate the relevant specified polling station to the elector
        concerned if he is satisfied that the application is well founded; and

   (b)  he shall in any case inform the applicant, in such manner as he
        considers appropriate, of the result of the application as soon as
        practicable.

(7) An elector who is allocated a specified polling station under subsection
(6)(a) shall be entitled to vote only at that polling station in the election
or by-election to which his application under subsection

(5) relates.

(8) Where the Chief Electoral Officer allocates a specified polling station to
an elector under subsection (6)(a), he shall as soon as practicable
thereafter, notify the returning officer, the presiding  officer at that
specified polling station and the presiding officer at the polling station at
which the elector would have been entitled to vote if not for such allocation,
of the identity card number, name and residential address (as it appears in
the final register) of that elector and of the functional constituency and the
geographical constituency in respect of which he is registered.

(9) The requirement in subsection (1)(b) to send a poll card shall not apply
in relation to an elector as regards whom the Chief Electoral Officer is
satisfied-

   (a)  having regard to any information received from the Registrar of Births
        and Deaths, that he is dead; or

   (b)  that his address on the final register does not exist or refers to a
        building that has been demolished or is not at that time built.
        (Enacted 1995)