22 JULY
NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE
2007

(b) may also include a statement to voters (maximum 100 words) prepared by the nominee and a recent photograph, and

(c) shall be forwarded to the returning officer so as to reach him or her not later than 60 clear days before the date of the election. Any nomination not received within that time shall be invalid and shall be disregarded.

(d) a candidate who withdraws after the closing date for nominations, and after the printing of the ballot paper, will have his or her votes counted as if they were a “vacating member” as set out in clause 14 (1) (b).

(3) Information supplied by candidates will be edited to comply with a standard format and sent out to electors with the voting papers.

8. Position where only 4 nominees—(1) If at any election only 4 candidates are nominated for election, the returning officer shall declare the candidates so nominated to be duly elected.

(2) Every such declaration shall be made by notice in the Gazette as soon as practicable after the date upon which the nominations close.

9. Position where more than 4 nominees—(1) If at any election more than 4 candidates are nominated for election, an election shall be conducted by postal ballot in accordance with the following provisions:

(a) The register of medical practitioners as it stands on the day, and at the time, on which nominations close shall be used as the register for the purposes of the election, and each name in the register shall be distinctively numbered for the purposes of the election:

(b) The returning officer shall, immediately after the day on which nominations close, prepare ballot papers according to subclauses (2) and (3) below:

(2) Every ballot paper shall—

(a) contain the full names of each candidate, and

(b) list the candidates in the order determined by lot by the returning officer in the presence of a member of the council, and

(c) list the names of each candidate with the family name first.

(3) Ballot papers shall be in a form specified by the council, and shall state that to be a valid vote it must reach the returning officer by the time and date fixed for holding the election.

(4) The returning officer shall as soon as possible after the ballot papers have been prepared, and not less than 30 days before the date fixed for the election, send one ballot paper, together with an envelope addressed to the returning officer, Medical Council, Wellington, marked “ballot paper”, by post to every registered medical practitioner on the electoral roll.

(5) No ballot paper shall be valid unless it is received by the returning officer, in the envelope issued with the ballot paper, before the time and date fixed for the election.

10. Voting—(1) Voting shall be by the single transferable vote method, which requires voters to place candidates in order of preference, by writing as a minimum “1” next to the name of the most preferred candidate, and then “2” next to the name of the second most preferred candidate, “3” next to the name of the third most preferred candidate and “4” next to the name of the fourth most preferred candidate and so on:

(2) Each candidate may, by notice in writing to the returning officer, appoint one scrutineer to be present when the envelopes containing the voting papers of the election in which he or she is a candidate are opened and the votes counted. If no scrutineer is nominated by any candidate as invited, the returning officer shall appoint one scrutineer to be present at the opening and counting of the votes.

(3) (a) Envelopes sent in by voters shall be opened and ballot papers validated against the electoral roll (by electronic means as necessary) to ensure that only those eligible to vote have done so, and

(b) Voting preferences shall then be entered on the database ready for electronic counting when the poll has closed, and

(c) All informal votes have been rejected.

(4) A voting paper shall be rejected as informal—

(a) if it had not been received by the returning officer by the time of the closing of the poll; or

(b) if it does not clearly indicate the candidate or candidates for whom the elector desires to vote, or

(c) if it contains any means (other than electronic code) by which the name of the voter may be identified; or

(d) if the number “1” is marked opposite the name of more than one candidate; or

(e) if the number “1” is not marked opposite the name of one candidate.

(5) When the poll has closed and all valid votes have been entered in the database, the returning officer (or agent appointed by the returning officer for the purpose of counting votes, to be known as the counting officer) shall count the votes recorded in the ballot papers received by him or her after rejecting informal ballot papers (by electronic means as necessary) and the required number of candidates, taking into account preferential votes according to the rules set out in the Schedule to these rules, shall be elected.

11. Declaration—The returning officer shall cause to be published in the Gazette, as soon as practicable after the date upon which the election is held, a rank ordered list of successful candidates and an alphabetical list of unsuccessful candidates.

12. Returning officer to be sole judge of regularity of election—(1) The returning officer shall be the sole and absolute judge of the regularity and propriety of all matters connected with any election, and no election shall be called in question on the ground that—

(a) A ballot paper or an addressed envelope was not forwarded to any voter; or

(b) a ballot paper from any voter was not received by the returning officer; or

(c) A ballot paper prepared by the returning officer was irregular in form; or

(d) Any vote was irregularly cast; or

(e) Any other irregularity occurred in connection with any election, unless in the opinion of the returning officer any such irregularity materially affected the result of the election and occurred otherwise than in good faith.

(2) If any election is called in question under subclause (1) of this rule, including any extraordinary circumstance where the electronic database of voting preferences is corrupted during entry or counting of the votes, by events outside the returning officer’s control, the returning officer shall either—

(a) Recount the votes after—

(i) Including any vote that was not previously counted due to the irregularity; and

(ii) Rejecting any vote that was irregularly cast; and