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Referendums Framework Bill

Provisions relating to referendum - Counting of votes and declaration of votes

21: Referendum voting papers sent to returning officer before being counted

You could also call this:

"Send referendum voting papers to the person in charge after the election"

Illustration for Referendums Framework Bill

When you are in charge of a polling place, you must do a few things. You have to take the referendum voting papers out of the ballot boxes when you open them to start counting the votes for the general election. You then need to put all the referendum voting papers, including the ones that were used, the ones that were not used, and the ones that were spoilt, into special parcels. You must send these parcels to the returning officer as soon as you can, and you have to label them in a certain way, as set out in section 174A(1)(b) of the 1993 Act.

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This page was last updated on 25 August 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1028648.

Topics:

Government and voting > Elections

20: Procedures before manager of polling place starts preliminary count of votes in general election, or

"What happens before votes are counted in an election and referendum"

22: Procedure before returning officer starts preliminary count of early votes in general election, or

"Sorting votes before counting starts in a general election"

Part 2Provisions relating to referendum
Counting of votes and declaration of votes

21Referendum voting papers sent to returning officer before being counted

The manager of the polling place must,—
when the manager unseals the general election ballot boxes for the purposes of the preliminary count of votes cast in a general election, remove any referendum voting papers from those boxes; and
as soon as practicable,—
1. enclose all used referendum voting papers removed from those boxes, unused referendum voting papers, and spoilt referendum voting papers in parcels endorsed as required for ballot papers under section 174A(1)(b) of the 1993 Act; and
2. send those parcels to the returning officer.