REFERENDUM ACT 1994
Voting by postal voters.
28.—(1) Every presidential elector whose name is, at the time of a referendum, in the postal voters list for a constituency (in this Act referred to as “a postal voter”) shall be entitled to vote in that constituency at the poll at the referendum by sending a ballot paper by post to the local returning officer for the constituency and shall not be entitled to vote at the referendum in any other manner.
(2) The local returning officer for a constituency shall, as soon as practicable after receiving from the referendum returning officer a copy of the Minister's order appointing the polling day at the referendum, send to each postal voter for the constituency a ballot paper and a form of receipt for such ballot paper in the form directed by the Minister and, if the ballot paper duly marked by the said postal voter and accompanied by the said receipt duly signed by the voter is received by the local returning officer before the close of the poll, it shall be counted by the local returning officer and treated for all purposes in the same manner as a ballot paper placed in a ballot box in the ordinary way at the taking of the poll.
(3) The provisions of sections 65 to 76 of the Act of 1992 shall, subject to the modifications specified in section 2 (3), apply and have effect in relation to postal voting at a referendum and, in sending out, receiving and otherwise dealing with the ballot papers of postal voters the local returning officer shall comply with the provisions of those sections.
(4) The notices required to be given pursuant to sections 68 and 73 of the Act of 1992 (as applied by subsection (3)) shall be given to each member of the Dáil for the constituency and each member of the Seanad resident in the constituency F17[and to each approved body within the meaning of the Referendum Act, 1998].
(5) A reference to an agent in any of the sections of the Act of 1992 referred to in subsection (3) shall be deemed to include a reference to each member of the Dáil for the constituency and F18[any such member of the Seanad and a reference to an agent appointed by an approved body within the meaning of the Referendum Act, 1998] and any person appointed by such member to be present at the issue of ballot papers to postal voters or the opening of postal voters ballot boxes.
Annotations
Amendments:
F17
Inserted (26.02.1998) by Referendum Act 1998 (1/1998), s. 15(c)(i), commenced on enactment.
F18
Substituted (26.02.1998) by Referendum Act 1998 (1/1998), s. 15(c)(ii), commenced on enactment.
Modifications (not altering text):
C17
Prospective affecting provision: subs. (2) applied with modifications by Electoral (Amendment) Act 2004 (15/2004), ss. 6(b), 7 and sch. 3 para. (k), not commenced as of date of revision.
Application of certain provisions of relevant enactments
6.—The provisions of— ...
(b) Parts I, II and IV of the Act of 1994,
...
shall, subject to the modifications specified in Schedule 1, 2, 3 or 4 to this Act, apply and have effect in relation to voting and vote counting under this Part at a relevant election or, as the case may be, a referendum.
Modification of relevant enactments in their application for purposes of Act
7.—Schedules 1 to 4 to this Act have effect for the purpose of modifying certain enactments in so far as those enactments apply for the purposes of this Act.
SCHEDULE 3
Modification of Certain Provisions of Act of 1994
For the purpose of the application by virtue of this Act to voting and the counting of votes at a referendum of certain provisions of the Act of 1994, the said provisions as so applied shall have effect as if— ...
(k) in section 28(2) of that Act for “ballot paper placed in a ballot box” there were substituted “vote cast on a ballot paper on a voting machine”;
...
C18
Section applied with modifications to Electoral Act 1992 (23/1992) (11.12.2006) by Electoral (Amendment) Act 2006 (33/2006), s. 7(2), commenced on enactment.
Voting by electors under this Act.
7.— ...
(2) The modifications of Part XIII of the Act of 1992 provided for in this section shall have effect in relation to the provisions of the said Part XIII as applied to presidential elections by section 40 of the Presidential Elections Act 1993, and to referendums by section 28 of the Referendum Act 1994.
...