BYE LAW VIII - ELECTORAL COMMISSION.

1. (a) An Electoral Commission shall be appointed by the Committee of Management for a period of two years. It shall consist of three Electoral Commissioners and two Reserve Commissioners. At the expiry of this period the Commission may be re-appointed for further periods of two years.

(b) The function of the Commission is to be solely responsible for the conduct, control, security, polling hours, efficiency and smooth running of the voting and counting procedures whenever an election or any form of voting is required. An amenity AGM or EGM does not require the presence of the Electoral Commission.

(c) The Commission shall select Tellers at the time of the count of vote from amongst the Members present.

(d) The Commission shall have access to official records of the Club in order to verify the entitlement of the Member to vote. A Member can only vote provided he is fully paid-up at the time of an election, AGM or EGM.

(e) The Club Secretary or his representative shall give all assistance required by the Commission in the execution of its duties and also in any secretarial work the Commission may so require.

2. Duties and responsibilities of the Electoral Commission are as follows:-

(a) Before the Poll.

i. To have control of all ballot papers printed.

ii. At an election, to include on the Ballot paper the names of those candidates contesting the election in alphabetical order by surname with a box opposite each name and to ensure that photographs of all these candidates are displayed in the room where voting takes place.

(b) During the Poll.

i. To issue ballot papers against a valid membership card.

ii. To supervise the ballot box (es) in the room allocated and to ensure that all voting takes place immediately on the issue of a ballot paper. No ballot papers may be taken out of the room where the ballot is being held.

iii. To set the polling hours, as per Rule VIII, and to be in attendance, when voting is in progress.

iv. To secure the ballot box(es), unissued ballot papers etc. at the end of each voting session, until they are finally opened for counting.

(c) After the Poll.

i. To agree a system of counting, checking or double-checking all votes with the Tellers.

ii. To make decisions on the validity of any doubtful ballot papers especially where the voter’s intention is clear and unequivocal.

iii. To decide on the necessity of any recount.

iv. To declare the result of the ballot including a record of votes cast for each and every candidate.

v. To preserve until a subsequent election all used ballot papers in sealed packets labelled with the relevant details.

vi. To ensure that candidates and/or members can visibly monitor the counting of votes.

vii. As soon as all votes have been recorded, the commissioners will post on the window a notice (facing outwards) stating the following:-

1. the number of doubtful/invalid ballot papers.

2. The time (30 minutes) during which candidates or in their absence, their appointed representative may scrutinise the ballot papers.

3. Decisions of the Electoral Commission are final.