174Preliminary count of votes cast in polling place

1. The manager of every polling place must, as soon as practicable after the close of the poll, in the presence of any scrutineers (including those lawfully in the polling place under any other Act) and the polling place officials, but of no other person, arrange for a preliminary count of the votes cast in that polling place to be conducted in accordance with this section—

2. at the polling place; or
3. at any other place designated by the Electoral Commission.

4. The Electoral Commission may, under subsection (1)(b), designate for a polling place some other place where the preliminary count of votes cast in the polling place may be conducted only if the Commission is satisfied that it is necessary to do so because the preliminary count of votes will not be able to be conducted at the polling place in the absence of unauthorised persons.

5. If the Electoral Commission designates for a polling place some other place where the preliminary count of votes cast in the polling place may be conducted,—

6. the Returning Officer must—
   1. give notice to the constituency candidates or their scrutineers of that place at which the preliminary count of votes will be conducted (the counting place); and
   2. afford to the scrutineers present at the polling place the opportunity to accompany the ballot boxes to the counting place; and
7. all ballot boxes containing ballot papers must be taken from the polling place to the counting place accompanied by—
   1. a polling place official appointed as an official for the polling place; and
   2. any scrutineers wishing to take up the opportunity afforded by paragraph (a)(ii).

8. For the purposes of the preliminary count, all ballot papers must be taken from the ballot boxes to ascertain, as the case may require,—

9. the number of votes received by each party listed in the part of the ballot paper that relates to the party vote; or
10. the number of votes received by each candidate listed in the part of the ballot paper that relates to the electorate vote; or
11. both.

12. For the purposes of subsection (2), the following votes must be set aside as informal:

13. any party votes that do not clearly indicate the party for which the voter desired to vote:
14. any electorate votes that do not clearly indicate the candidate for whom the voter desired to vote.

15. As soon as possible after ascertaining a result of the voting, the manager must ensure that the result is reported to the Returning Officer.

16. If a referendum has, under any Act, been taken with the poll, the manager must ensure that the preliminary count of the party votes and the electorate votes, and the reports under subsection (4) take priority over the counting of the votes of the referendum.