Franchise Act 1916

Western Australia

Franchise Act 1916

An Act to preserve the Franchise of Electors on Service with His Majesty’s Forces.

Be it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: —

1.Short title

This Act may be cited as the Franchise Act 1916, and shall be read as one with the Electoral Act 1907.

2.Preservation of franchise

[(1)-(2)deleted]

(3)Any person on active service with His Majesty’s Naval or Military Forces, who, at the commencement of such service, was enrolled or qualified for enrolment as a Legislative Council electors a householder occupying a dwelling‑house, shall retain such qualification during such service, whether absent from the State or not, so long as he continues tenant of such dwelling‑house notwithstanding that he does not occupy the dwelling‑house in person.

Provided that if such person is a married man and absent from the State, and his wife remains in occupation of the dwelling‑house she may, on application to the Electoral Registrar, be registered as an elector on the household qualification in the place of her husband.

(4)Whenever, in the preparation of electoral rolls, the name of any person on service with His Majesty’s Forces, and whose name was on an existing roll, has been omitted on the ground that by reason of such service such person did not appear to reside in the District for which he was enrolled, the name of such person may be inserted by the Chief Electoral Officer.

(5)The Chief Electoral Officer shall, so far as practicable, cause an asterisk or other distinguishing mark to he made on the rolls against the names of electors who have joined His Majesty’s Forces, and append to the roll an explanatory note.

[Section 2 amended by No. 28 of 1943 s. 2.]

Notes

1.This is a compilation of the Franchise Act 1916 and includes all amendments effected by the other Acts referred to in the following Table 1a.

Compilation table

Short title	Number and year	Assent	Commencement
Franchise Act 1916	4 of 1917	23 Mar 1917	23 Mar 1917
Electoral (War Time) Act 1943	28 of 1943	25 Oct 1943	25 Oct 1943

1aOn the date as at which this compilation was prepared, provisions referred to in the following table had not come into operation and were therefore not included in this compilation. For the text of the provisions see the endnotes referred to in the table.

Provisions that have not come into operation

Short title	Number and year	Assent	Commencement
Electoral Amendment Act 2012 Pt. 7 2	35 of 2012	5 Nov 2012	To be proclaimed (see s. 2(b))

2On the date as at which this compilation was prepared, the Electoral Amendment Act 2012 Pt. 7 had not come into operation. It reads as follows:

Part 7 — Franchise Act 1916 repealed

33.Franchise Act 1916 repealed

The Franchise Act 1916 is repealed.