7-8 GEORGE V.
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CHAP. 34.
The Military Voters Act, 1917.
[Assented to 20th September, 1917.]
HIS Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:-
1. The Dominion Elections Act, chapter six of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1906, is amended by adding thereto as Part IV thereof the following provisions and forms:-
"PART IV.
"1. This Part of the Act shall apply only to a general election held during the present war or after the conclusion of peace but before demobilization.
"2. In this Part, unless by the context a contrary intention is made to appear, the expression,-
(a) 'Box' or 'ballot-box' includes bag or other receptacle made of durable material with one lock and key and a slit or narrow opening in the top, and so constructed that ballot papers enclosed in envelopes may be introduced therein but cannot be withdrawn therefrom without unlocking it;
(b) 'Camp' means and includes base, barracks, rest station, ship, dockyard, hospital or other place whereat or whereon any military or naval unit or other body of military electors, as defined by this Part, is assembled under a commanding officer for the performance of any military or naval duty, or for rest, cure, exercise, or training;
(c) 'Military elector' means and includes every person, male or female, who, being a British subject, whether or not ordinarily resident in Canada and whether or not an Indian, has been, while within or without Canada, appointed, enlisted, enrolled or called out for and placed on active service as one of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Militia on active service, or the Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve, or has been while within Canada, appointed, enlisted or enrolled as one of the British Royal Flying Corps, Royal Naval Air Service, or Auxiliary Motor Boat Patrol Service, whether as officer, soldier, sailor, dentist, nurse, aviator, mechanician or otherwise, and who remains one of any such forces or services or has been honourably discharged therefrom, or, in the case of an officer who has been permitted to resign or without fault on his part has had his services dispensed with, and every person, male or female, who, being a British subject ordinarily resident in Canada, whether or not a minor or an Indian, is on active service in Europe in any of the forces or services, military or naval, of His Majesty or of His allies.
" 3. (1) Every military elector shall be qualified and entitled to vote at a general election.
(2) If he can state the electoral district wherein he last continuously resided during at least four months of the twelve months immediately preceding his appointment, enlistment, enrolment or calling out on active service, or so particularly specify a place or places within and electoral district whereat during such period of time he so resided that such electoral district can therefrom be ascertained, he shall be deemed an elector of the electoral district so stated or to be ascertained, and his vote shall be applied thereto.
(3) If he cannot state or so specify an electoral district or place wherein he has so resided for the time and within the period mentioned in subsection two but can state an electoral district or so specify a place within Canada wherein he has at any other time resided, he shall be deemed an elector of the electoral district so stated or made ascertainable and his vote shall be applied thereto.
(4) If he cannot, because of non-residence or otherwise, so state or specify, he shall be deemed an elector of, and his vote shall be applied to, such electoral district as he may indicate.
(5) No person shall be entitled, because of anything in this Part contained, to vote more than once at any election.
"4. (1) The Governor General in Council shall appoint, whenever necessary for the execution of the purposes of this Part, the following mentioned officers and functionaries:-
(a) An Assistant Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, who shall have and perform within the United Kingdom and on the continent of Europe all the powers and duties of the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery. He shall be nominated for appointment by the Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada. Upon completion of performance of his duties at any election his tenure of office shall cease;
(b) A General Returning Officer, who shall have and perform, within the city of Ottawa, the powers and duties assigned to him by this Part as returning officer for all polls held under this Part or otherwise. Upon completion of such performance his tenure of office shall cease. He shall appoint and employ a Chief Election Clerk and such other clerical assistants as may be necessary for the proper performance of his duties;
(c) A sufficient even number of Special Returning Officers, and the same number of clerks, of whom one clerk shall be assigned to each Special Returning Officer to assist him in the performance of his duties. Such officers and clerks shall perform, at the places to which they respectively may be assigned upon appointment, the duties of counting, recording and returning the votes polled under this Part. One-half of the number of such officers and clerks shall be nominated by the Prime Minister, and the other half by the Leader of the Opposition, and no clerk shall be appointed for, assigned to, or serve any such officer when the two are nominees of the same party leader;
(d) A sufficient number of Presiding Officer, who shall be military electors. They shall have and may exercise over designated camps and other places, subject to the provision of this Part, the like powers, privileges, and functions as returning officers, particularly the power to appoint and direct sufficient Deputy Presiding Officers and Poll Clerks, who also shall be military electors. Deputy Presiding Officers shall have and may exercise in the camps or other places to which by Presiding Officers they may be assigned, subject to the provisions of this Part, the like powers, privileges and functions as deputy returning officers;
(e) Six Scrutineers, three to be appointed on the nomination of the Prime Minster, and three on that of the leader of the Opposition. The appointment shall state the respective addresses at which notices given under this Part may be served. One of each nomination may be present on each occasion of the opening of ballot-boxes, and at the examination, application and counting of ballots, and every scrutineer shall have and may exercise all the rights of a candidate or his representative at any poll. Any scrutineer may, by writing, appoint any necessary deputies, who shall have and may exercise the powers hereby conferred on scrutineers. Every Presiding Officer shall notify in writing, by mail or other expeditious means, the scrutineer of each party whose place or address may be nearest to him, of the names of all Deputy Presiding Officers appointed by him.
(2) Such officers and functionaries and their deputies clerks and assistants, except scrutineers and deputy scrutineers, may be paid and reimbursed as the Governor General in Council may provide, authorize or allow; scrutineers may be paid their actual travelling and living expenses only, at a rate to be fixed by the Governor General in Council; deputy scrutineers shall not be paid or reimbursed out of the funds of Canada any sums whatever.
(3) Before in any manner acting under this part, the Assistant clerk of the Crown in Chancery, General Returning Officer, his Chief Election Clerk, and every Presiding Officer, Special Returning Officer, Deputy Presiding Officer, Poll Clerk, and Clerk of a Special Returning Officer, shall be sworn to the faithful performance of his duties.
(4) The Assistant Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, the General Returning Officer and is Chief Election Clerk, shall be sworn before a judge of a court of record; Presiding Officers, Special Returning Officers and Clerks of Special Returning Officers, before the Assistant Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, a regimental or battalion commanding officer, or officer in charge of an independent unit, notary public or official authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the country where such duties are to be performed; Deputy Presiding Officers before a presiding Officer or any of the officers or functionaries hereinbefore name; and Poll Clerks before a Deputy Presiding Officer.
" 5. (1) Whenever the Secretary of State of Canada shall so direct, a sufficient supply of ballot-papers in the form A of the Schedule, and of envelopes for holding the same, with certificates in the form B of the Schedule printed thereon, and of all such forms and instructions as are ordinarily supplied to returning officers, modified to conform to the provisions of this Part, shall be delivered, (a) by the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery to the officer in command of any Canadian forces in Bermuda, or in any other place without Canada but in North America, and to such Presiding Officers as shall have been appointed to arrange for the holding polls in Canada; and, (b) by the Assistant Clerk of the Crown in Chancery to such Presiding Officers as shall have been appointed to arrange for the holding of polls in the United Kingdom or on the continent of Europe.
(2) Such ballot-papers and envelopes shall be safely held by such officers in command, respectively, until receipt from the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery of notice of the appointment of Presiding Officers for the camps under such officers' command, whereupon they shall deliver such ballots and envelopes to such Presiding Officers in such quantities as may be necessary, and return any surplus, with a statement in writing of the disposition of all thereof, showing names and quantities, to the General Returning Officer at Ottawa.
(3) The printer shall, upon delivering the ballot papers to the Assistant Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, file in his hands an affidavit setting forth the description of the ballots as printed by him, the number of ballots supplied by him, and the fact that no other ballot papers have been supplied by him to any one else.
"6. At the expiration of the time for nominating candidates the returning officer for each electoral district shall inform the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery by telegraph, or other expeditious means, of the names, addresses and descriptions of the several candidates who have been nominated. The Clerk of the Crown in Chancery shall thereupon transmit by telegraph to, (a) every officer in command of Canadian forces in Bermuda, or in any other place without Canada but in North America, (b) the Assistant Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, and, (c) every Presiding Officer appointed to arrange for the holding of polls within Canada under this Part, a list of the electoral districts wherein a poll of the electors is necessary, and the names, addresses and descriptions of the candidates. Such officers in command and Assistant Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, respectively, shall transmit to all Presiding Officers, of whose appointments they respectively have been notified, true copies of such list. Presiding Officers shall cause placards containing this information to be posted upon the bulletin boards of each battalion in all camps where the same may be possible and shall use all other reasonably available means to bring such information to the knowledge of the military electors.
"7. Notwithstanding sections eighty-nine and ninety of Part III, all nominations of candidates for all electoral districts except the Yukon Territory shall be fixed for and made on one and the same day, and notwithstanding section one hundred and thirty-one of the said Part, the day for holding the poll within Canada, whether under this Part or otherwise, in or for all electoral districts, shall be the twenty-eighth day next after that fixed for the nomination of candidates.
"8. (1) Polls shall be held in such camps or other places, in Canada or elsewhere, as shall be assigned to the charge of Presiding Officers for the purposes of this Part. Those held without Canada shall be maintained open during such sufficient number of days and during such hours as military exigencies will permit, but so that no polling shall commence before the day following that of the nomination of candidates nor continue after eight o'clock in the evening of the day for holding the poll within Canada.
(2) The Canadian Military and Naval authorities at every camp or other place where any poll is held shall afford to the attending Deputy Presiding Officer, officials and scrutineers, all necessary facilities, and the officer commanding shall allow every military elector, so far as may be consistent with the proper performance of his military duties, time and opportunity to vote, and subject to the same conditions, to every military elector who may be appointed a deputy scrutineer, time and opportunity to perform his duties as such.
(3) In Canada, and, where conditions make it reasonably possible, without Canada, the Deputy Presiding Officer shall give public notice of the time and place of an intended poll, and, in cases of polls to be held without Canada, a special notice to any person whose appointment as a scrutineer or deputy scrutineer has been communicated to him, with the request that he so notify.
(4) The Deputy Presiding Officer shall permit any scrutineer or deputy scrutineer, or, in the absence of both, any one military elector, to be present at any poll, and to act thereat as agent on behalf of any party, with the power of an agent of a candidate at a poll held under Part III. Every scrutineer, deputy scrutineer and military elector so acting, shall, on being admitted to the poll, take before the Deputy Presiding Officer the oath in form U in schedule one to this Act.
(5) In any case where, for any reason, unless the vote of a military elector is immediately taken, it is likely that he may not subsequently be able to vote, the Deputy Presiding Officer may take such vote otherwise than at a formally held poll, but such vote shall be so taken in the presence of the deputy scrutineers, or failing either or both, of a military elector or two military electors, who shall, together with the Deputy Presiding Officer, sign upon the envelope in which the ballot is inserted a certificate that the vote was taken under this subsection and the reasons which made it necessary.
"9. (1) The manner of voting without Canada under this Part shall be as follows:-
(a) Voting shall be by ballot;
(b) The ballot-paper shall be in the form A in the Schedule;
(c) The voter shall answer under oath, before the Deputy Presiding Officer, the questions set forth in the certificate which is form B in the Schedule. Such certificate shall be endorsed on the envelopes referred to in section five of this Part;
(d) The Deputy Presiding Officer shall sign such certificate and deliver the envelope on which it appears, with a ballot-paper, to the voter, who may mark the ballot paper in accordance with the direction thereon as a vote for the Government, the Opposition, or any Independent candidate or candidates, or Labour candidate or candidates or for any candidate or candidates (if more than one candidate is to be elected) designated by name for whom he desires to vote;
(e) The ballot-paper shall be marked in the presence of the Deputy Presiding Officer and deputy scrutineers present, or military electors acting in their stead, but in such manner as not to disclose to them or to any other person any marking thereon. The voter shall fold the ballot, place it in the envelope, securely close the same and hand it to the Deputy Presiding Officer who shall then and there, in the presence of the voter and deputy scrutineers present, or military electors acting in their stead, place it in the ballot-box;
(f) To comply with this section as respects his own vote, the Deputy Presiding Officer may make the necessary oath and himself certify as aforesaid;
(g) Every Deputy Presiding Officer who is satisfied that any voter is incapacitated by blindness or other cause from voting in the manner prescribed, shall, upon request of such voter, and in the presence of the deputy scrutineers present, or military electors acting in their stead, mark his ballot-paper in the manner directed by him and place it in the proper envelope, and deposit such envelope in the ballot-box;
(h) A voter who has inadvertently dealt with a ballot-paper or envelope in such manner that it cannot conveniently be used, shall return it to the Deputy Presiding Officer, who shall deface it and deliver another in its place.
(2) The manner of voting within Canada, under this Part shall be the same as that without Canada, except in the following respects:-
(a) The ballot-paper shall have a counterfoil, and after the Deputy Presiding Officer shall have signed the certificate on the envelope, he shall retain the envelope and hand to the voter a ballot-paper on the back of which such Deputy Presiding Officer shall have previously put his initials, so placed that when the ballot is folded they can be seen without opening it, and on the back of the counterfoil of which he shall have placed a number corresponding to one placed on the envelope;
(b) The voter, on receiving the ballot-paper, shall forthwith proceed into a compartment so arranged that he may be screened from observation, and shall there mark his ballot-paper, fold it so that the initials on the back of it and the number on the counterfoil can be seen without opening it, and hand it to the Deputy Presiding Officer, who shall, without unfolding it, ascertain by examining his initials and the number on the counterfoil, that it is the same paper as that furnished by him to the voter, and shall then, in the presence of the voter, remove and destroy the counterfoil, place the ballot in the proper envelope and deposit it in the ballot-box.
"10. (1) Any of the officers or functionaries mentioned in section four of this Part, (including scrutineers and deputy scrutineers), who is not a military elector, may vote in manner provided by this Part at any poll whereat he may demand to vote, upon making oath before the Deputy Presiding Officer that he has not previously voted at the election and is a duly qualified elector of an electoral district which he shall name. In such case the Deputy Presiding Officer shall endorse upon the envelope a certificate in form C of the Schedule, and shall sign the same, whereupon such endorsement shall be deemed to fulfil all the requirements of this Part.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in this Part contained, a military elector who is resident within Canada, and is no longer in active service, shall vote in a manner specified in Part III, as an elector of the electoral district wherein he is resident at the time of polling. He shall be deemed qualified to so vote upon making oath before a deputy returning officer presiding at a poll held within the polling division wherein such voter resides, in the terms of the form D in the Schedule, and exhibiting to such officer his certificate of discharge from active service, or, in the case of an officer, the official letter or document from competent authority releasing him from service. The deputy returning officer shall cause such voter's name to be entered in the poll book with the addition of the words "military elector."
"11. (1) The ballot-boxes for use in the United Kingdom and on the continent of Europe shall be provided by the Assistant Clerk of the Crown in Chancery to the Presiding Officers, who shall deliver the same, locked, to the various deputy presiding officers, retaining the keys, and forthwith after delivery of any ballot-box dispatching the key thereof to the ultimate destination of the ballot-box as hereafter in this section indicated, whereat any ballots to be contained in such box are to be counted. The Deputy Presiding Officer may use the same ballot-box, if it be sufficient, at all polls committed to him to be held, until it has become filled, and upon the conclusion of his last poll, or whenever he shall decide to discontinue the depositing of ballots in any box, he shall seal it in such manner as to make evident any tampering therewith, plainly mark it with the words "Military Votes", and send it by registered post or other safe and expeditious means, addressed, (a) if the votes therein have been polled within the United Kingdom, to the Secretary of the High Commissioner's office of Canada, at London, England; (b) if they have been polled on the continent of Europe, to the Commissaire Général du Canada in France; and, (c) if they have been polled elsewhere, to the General Returning Officer at Ottawa. He shall enclose within every box so sent a statement of the number of votes contained therein, and, within the box containing the ballots taken at the last poll which he is to hold, all other documents which have served at the election.
(2) When posted in Canada, the ballot-boxes shall be carried free in the Canadian mails as registered matter.
"12. (1) The Secretary of the High Commissioner's Office, the Commissaire Général du Canada in France, and the General Returning Officer, respectively, shall make a record of all boxes received by them, endorsing on each thereof the date and hour of its receipt, and keep such boxes sealed and unopened until the times which they shall fix in written notices, to be given from time to time to Special Returning Officers and scrutineers of the times when and places where such boxes as have been received will be opened for purpose of counting the ballots. The day fixed in any such notice shall be not less than two nor more than thirty-one days next after that fixed for polling in Canada.
(2) At the respective times and places so fixed, the Secretary of the High Commissioner's Office, the Commissaire Général du Canada in France, and the General Returning Officer, respectively, shall deliver to such Special Returning Officers as are present, such boxes, sealed and unopened, whereupon they shall, without opening the envelopes found therein, sort such envelopes by electoral districts, and enter in separate poll-books for each electoral district the name, rank and number, if any shown, of each voter, and the name of the Deputy Presiding Officer, as such information appears endorsed on such envelopes, and, opposite each name of a voter, the signature of the Clerk who has entered such name in the poll-book. In case the endorsement upon any envelope does not indicate the electoral district to which the ballot therein ought to be applied, but does so indicate the place of residence of the voter that, on reference to charts of electoral districts and instructions as to the bounds, area and street contents of electoral districts, which the Clerk or Assistant Clerk of the Crown in Chancery shall supply, the electoral district to which such ballot ought to be applied can be ascertained, the name of such electoral district, so ascertained, shall be written on the envelope and identified by the signature of a Special Returning Officer and his Clerk, and such envelope shall be applied, to such electoral district.
(3) When the envelopes have been sorted and the poll books written up, as respects all envelopes whereon the certificate, or marking pursuant to the immediately preceding provision, appears to be made in accordance with this Part, the Special Returning Officers shall place in heaps, with the certificate thereon downwards, such envelopes as they are prepared to open, and, maintaining them in that position, shall, each in presence of his clerk, open them, one electoral district at a time, and deposit the ballots in boxes plainly marked with the name of the electoral district to which the envelopes relate, and of which boxes the Secretary of the High Commissioner's Office, the Commissiare Général du Canada in France, or the General Returning Officer, as the case may be, shall hold the only keys.
(4) No such box shall be opened or any ballots counted until ten o'clock of the morning of the thirty-first day next after that fixed for polling in Canada. The Secretary of the High Commissioner's Office, the Commissaire Général du Canada in France, and the General Returning Officer, respectively, shall then deliver the keys of all such boxes to the Special Returning Officers, who shall, in the presence of such scrutineers as may attend, open the same, count the ballots, and records in the respective poll-books relating to the respective electoral districts a statement, (a) of the number of votes cast for each party or candidate, (b) the names of the respective candidates for whom the votes cast for a party have been counted, (c) the total vote for each candidate after application to him by name of the votes cast for his party, and, (d) the number of rejected ballots. Such statements shall be signed by the Special Returning Officer and Clerk who have counted the ballots, and they shall make a signed duplicate thereof and forthwith deliver it to the Secretary of the High Commissioner's Office, the Commissaire Général du Canada in France, or the General Returning Officer, as the case may be. Copies of such statements shall be delivered to the scrutineers in attendance.
(5) A vote for a party shall be counted as a vote for the candidate or candidates who has or have been recognized, in the manner hereinafter prescribed, as the candidate or candidates representing that party in the electoral district to which the vote has been applied. Such recognition shall be made in the case of the Government party by the Prime Minister, in the case of the Opposition party by the Leader of the Opposition, and in the case of any Independent or Labour party by the recognized leader of such party. Within five days after the day of nomination, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the recognized leader of any Independent or Labour party, shall severally notify the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery of the names of the candidates recognized by them, and such notification shall forthwith be published in the Canada Gazette and communicated to the Assistant Clerk of the Crown in Chancery. If a military elector votes for a party, and there is no candidate recognized as aforesaid as representing that party, his ballot shall be rejected, and the reason for the rejection shall be written and signed by the Special Returning Officer and his Clerk on the back thereof.
(6) A vote for a person by name shall be counted for such person if he is a candidate in the electoral district to which, in accordance with the endorsement or marking on the envelope, such ballot has been applied, but if otherwise, it shall be rejected, and the reason for the rejection shall be written and signed thereon as in the immediately preceding paragraph provided. Where any ballot-paper bears on its face a vote for a candidate by name and is also marked as a vote for a party other than that of which such named person is a candidate, such ballot shall be counted as a vote for the candidate named thereon.
(7) No ballot shall be rejected for uncertainty as to the party or the candidate intended to be voted for by reason only of the misplacing of any mark, or the misspelling of any name, or because of any omission of or addition to the Christian name, or the omission or addition of any prefix to any name thereon, if, notwithstanding, it is possible to ascertain by mere inspection of such ballot-paper, the party or the candidate for which or whom the voter intended to vote; nor shall any ballot be rejected as containing a possible identifying mark unless the mark is obviously intended as such.
(8) If any ballot-box is received by the Secretary of the High Commissioner's Office, the Commissiare Général du Canada in France, or the General Returning Officer, after ten o'clock in the morning of the thirty-first day next after that fixed for polling in Canada, or if any box appears to have been opened, its contents shall not be examined, and in the case of an envelope contained in a box duly received and opened, if the certificate required on the envelope is not made substantially in accordance with the provisions of this Part, or if the envelope appears to have been opened, its contents shall not be examined, but such box or envelope shall be put before the Secretary of the High Commissioner's Office of Canada, the Commissiare Général du Canada in France, or the General Returning Officer as the case may be, who shall endorse thereon the reason why the same has not been examined.
(9) Upon receipt of the statement mentioned in subsection four of this section, of the votes applicable to each candidate in an electoral district, the Secretary of the High Commissioner's Office and the Commissiare Général du Canada in France, respectively, shall communicate the text thereof by telegraph, and such document itself by registered post, to the General Returning Officer.
(10) At the conclusion of the counting of the ballots, the Special Returning Officers shall collect and enclose within separate parcels, (a) the used and accepted ballots, (b) the used but rejected ballots, (c) the envelopes in which the used ballots had been contained, (d) the poll-books, and, (e) any other documents which have served at the election, securely seal and endorse each parcel so as to indicate its contents and the name of the electoral district to which it relates, and deliver the whole to the Secretary of the High Commissioner's Office, the Commissaire Général du Canada in France, or the General Returning Officer, as the case may be. The Secretary of the High Commissioner's office and the Commissiare Général du Canada in France, respectively, after the elapse of the time mentioned in section fifteen, subsection three, shall forward all such documents to the General Returning Officer at Ottawa, who shall further deal with them as in and by section two hundred and fourteen of Part III provided.
(11) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection four of this section, the Secretary of the High Commissioner's Office and the Commissaire Général du Canada in France, and the General Returning Officer respectively, shall, in the event of all the ballot-boxes issued to Deputy Presiding Officers in the United Kingdom, on the continent of Europe and in North America respectively, being received by them respectively, and the proceedings under subsection one, two and three of this section completed, before the thirty-first day next after polling day in Canada, fix and earlier day whereof two days' notice shall be given to the scrutineers entitled to attend on the counting of the ballots, and on such earlier day the Special Returning Officers shall proceed to the counting of the ballots in the manner of this section provided.
"13. Notwithstanding anything contained in Part III, every returning officer appointed and acting under that Part in respect of an electoral district wherein a poll is held, as soon as he has made the final addition of the votes polled pursuant to that Part, shall, without declaring any candidate elected and without making the return required by section two hundred and eleven of that Part, make, sign and seal a certificate stating the number of votes given for each candidate, as determined by such final addition, and the report required by section two hundred and thirteen of Part III, and immediately after the sixth day after he has made such final addition, transmit to the General Returning Officer the writ of election together with such certificate and report, the stamp furnished him for stamping the ballot-papers, and all the ballot-papers, including those unused, the original statements of the several deputy returning officers the lists of voters, the poll books used in the several polling divisions, and all other lists and documents furnished for the election, or which have been transmitted to him by the deputy returning officers. Such action on the part of the returning officer shall be deemed to be the return on his part of the writ required by the provisions of Part III, and thereafter such returning officer shall have no further duty to perform in connection with the election, but the General Returning Officer shall be substituted for him and shall act in his place and stead as returning officer in respect of the said election, except that in case of necessity for the giving of a casting vote in any case within the provisions of section one hundred and eighty-five of Part III, the General Returning Officer shall communicate to such returning officer by telegraph the fact of such necessity, whereupon such returning officer shall by telegraph announce to the General Returning Officer his vote, and confirm it by letter, and the General Returning Officer shall record such casting vote as directed, and when making return shall return accordingly.
"14. Upon receipt of any telegram from the Secretary of the High Commissioner's Office, or the Commissaire Général du Canada in France stating the number of votes given for the several candidates in any electoral district, the General Returning Officer shall cause the information therein contained to be made available to any person applying therefor. Upon receipt from the Secretary of the High Commissioner's Office, the Commissaire Général du Canada in France, and the Special Returning Officers in Canada, of the statements referred to in section twelve, subsection four, of this Part, the General Returning Officer shall add the number of votes given for or applicable to the respective candidates in each electoral district, as disclosed by such statements, to the votes given for the candidates as shown by the certificate of the returning officer made pursuant to section thirteen of this Part, and shall openly proclaim and shall return pursuant to the provisions of section two hundred and eleven of Part III, as being duly elected a member or members to represent such electoral district in the Commons of Canada, the candidate or candidates found to have the greatest number of votes, and shall, if requested to do so, give to each candidate so elected a certificate stating the fact of his election.
"15. (1) The provisions of Part III relating to the final addition and recounting of votes by a judge, so far as the same are not inconsistent with this Part, and substituting where necessary for the words "deputy returning officer" the words "Special Returning Officer", and for the words "Returning Officer" the words "Secretary of the High Commissioner's Office, Commissaire Général du Canada in France, or General Returning Officer, as the case may be", and for the word "Judge" the words "recounting authority", shall extend to all votes polled under this Part, but such final addition or recount proceedings as shall relate to any votes polled within the United Kingdom or on the continent of Europe shall be instituted and had at London, England, before a person who may be designated for the purpose by a Judge of the High Court of Justice of England. Such proceedings shall be initiated by an application to the High Commissioner or Acting High Commissioner of Canada at London that he secure the appointment of a recounting authority. Such application shall be made within four days after a time which shall be fixed by the Governor General, and published in the Canada Gazette, and in the London Times.
(2) The judge or recounting authority, within or without Canada, is empowered to extend for such reasonable periods as may be necessary, the times limited by Part III for taking any step in final addition or recount proceedings affecting any votes polled under this Part, and the recounting authority shall have power to determine with whom the prescribed deposit shall be made.
(3) The Secretary of the High Commissioner's Office, the Commissaire Général du Canada in France, and the General Returning Officer, shall retain in their possession all ballots which have come into such possession until the four-day limit, (mentioned in this section), for instituting recount proceedings has passed, and shall on written notice from the recounting authority, received in time, produce at the hour and place appointed for any final addition or recount proceedings, the ballots which relate thereto.
(4) The recounting authority in England shall certify the result of the final addition or recount to the High Commissioner or Acting High Commissioner of Canada at London, who shall forthwith report by telegraph the text, and transmit by registered mail the original, of said certificate, to the General Returning Officer at Ottawa. Said certificate shall have the same force and effect with relation to the votes finally added or recounted in England as if the proceedings had been instituted, conducted and concluded under Part III.
"16. In case any military electors shall, at the time of or subsequent to the issue of the writs for a general election, be under orders to leave Canada prior to the day for holding the poll within Canada, the Governor General in Council may make provision for the polling of their votes, in the manner by this Part provided, on a day prior to their departure, and may modify the provision of this Part relating to time or procedure in so far as may be necessary to render such polling possible.
"17. (1) Any person who wilfully and without lawful cause signs the name of any other person to any telegraphic message, with intent to procure such message to be sent as a message from such other person in respect of any matter provided for in this Part, or causes any delay in the transmission or delivery to the Secretary of the High Commissioner's Office, the Commissaire Général du Canada in France, or to the General Returning Officer, of any envelope endorsed in accordance with the provisions of this Part, or opens any such envelope, or attempts to obtain or communicate any information as to the party or person for whom or the manner in which any vote is given in any particular ballot-paper used under the provisions of this Part, or prevents or endeavours to prevent any military elector from voting, or makes any untrue statement as to his name or corps for insertion in a certificate, or signs a certificate containing any untrue statement, or falsely represents to any election officer that any certificate was issued to him, shall liable upon summary conviction to a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars and costs, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
(2) Any person who knowingly applies for a ballot-paper or certificate under this Part to which he is not entitled, and any person knowingly signing such certificate or signing any untrue certificate, shall be guilty of personation and liable to the penalty prescribed by section two hundred and seventy-two of Part III of this Act.
"18. The validity of any election shall not be questioned on the ground of any omission or irregularity in connection with the administration of this Part which has not affected the result of the election, or on the ground that for any reason it was found impracticable to record or to secure the vote of any military elector or any votes whatever hereunder.
"19. For the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this Part, or supplying any deficiency therein, the Governor General in Council may make such regulations, not inconsistent therewith, as may be deemed necessary.
"20. The cost incurred in carrying out the provisions of this Part may be paid by the Governor General in Council out of any unappropriated moneys in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Canada.
"21. Chapter eleven of the statutes of 1915, entitled An Act to enable Canadian Soldiers on Active Military Service during the present war to exercise their electoral franchise, is repealed.
"FORM A.
BALLOT.
THE VOTER, IF HE DESIRES TO VOTE FOR ANY PARTICULAR CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATES DESIGNATED BY NAME, SHALL WRITE THE NAME OF SUCH CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATES IN THE FIRST WHITE SPACE, OR IF HE DESIRES TO VOTE FOR A PARTY HE SHALL MAKE AN X WITHIN THE WHITE SPACE CONTAINING THE NAME OF THE PARTY FOR WHICH HE INTENDS TO VOTE.
LE VOTANT, S'IL DÉSIRE VOTER POUR UN OU DES CANDIDATS EN PARTICULIER DÉSIGNÉS PAR LEURS NOMS, ECRIRA LE NOM DE CE OU CES CANDIDATS DANS LE PREMIER BLANC, OU S'IL DÉSIRE VOTER POUR UN PARTI IL FERA UN X DANS LE BLANC CONTENANT LE NOM DU PARTI POUR LEQUEL IL A L'INTENTION DE VOTER.
In the electoral districts of Ottawa, of Halifax, of South Cape Breton and Richmond, of the city and counties of St. John and Albert, and of Queens, P.E.I., two candidates may be voted for.
Dans les divisions électorales d'Ottawa, de Halifax, de Cap-Breton Sud et Richmond, et de la cité et des comtés de St. John et Albert, et de Queens, I.-P.-E., on peut voter pour deux candidats.
1 I vote for
Je vote pour
2 I vote for the Government
Je vote pour le Gouvernement
3 I vote for the Opposition
Je vote pour l'Opposition
4 I vote for the Independent Candidate
Je vote pour le candidat Indépendant
5 I vote for the Labour Candidate
Je vote pour le candidat Ouvrier
"FORM B.
CERTIFICATE TO BE ENDORSED ON THE BALLOT-ENVELOPES.
1. What is your name?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2. What is your rank?. . . . . . What is your number? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3. In what force or service are you? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4. Are you a British subject? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Have you previously voted at this election? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5. Were you in Canada when you were appointed, enlisted, enrolled or called out in active service?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6. Specify the names of the place or places in Canada (giving streets and numbers where possible) whereat you last continuously resided during at least four months of the twelve months immediately preceding your appointment, enlistment, enrolment or calling out on active service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7. State if you can the electoral district wherein such place or places in which you so resided are situate.
Electoral district . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Province . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8. If you cannot specify as required by question No. 6, or state as required by question No. 7, then state in what electoral district or place within Canada (giving street and number where possible) you have resided at any other time than is referred to in question No. 6 . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9. If none of your answers to questions Nos. 6, 7, and 8 specify or state as required thereby, to what electoral district do you desire your vote to be applied?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Electoral district . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Province . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I certify that the above named military elector did this day make to me under oath the preceding set forth answers to the preceding set forth questions.
Dated this . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .day of . . . . . . . . . 1917.
Deputy Presiding Officer.
"FORM C.
CERTIFICATE OF VOTE OF A CIVILIAN.
I certify that this envelope contains the vote of (name of voter) a civilian scrutineer at this election (or as the case may be) who was this day sworn before me that he had not previously voted at such election and that he is a duly qualified elector of the electoral district of (name of electoral district) in the province of (name of province) to which electoral district said vote is to be applied.
Dated this . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .day of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1917.
Deputy Presiding Officer.
"FORM D.
OATH OR AFFIRMATION OF HONOURABLY DISCHARGED
MILITARY ELECTOR.
I do solemnly swear that I have been a member of (the voter will depose to former membership in some one of the services mentioned in the definition of a "military elector") but that I have been honourably discharged therefrom and am not now in active service. I produce my certificate of discharge, [or, if an officer, I produce the official letter (or document) from competent authority releasing me from service. I am now resident at . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . which is within this polling division. I have not previously voted at this election."