(1) Each elector shall receive from the presiding officer a ballot paper on which such officer has previously put his or her initials so placed as indicated in the form set out as Form 12 in Schedule 3 that when the ballot paper is folded they can be seen without opening it, and on the counterfoil of which he or she has placed a number corresponding to the registration number on the official list of electors allotted to the elector and entered in the poll book opposite the name of such elector.
(2)
(a) The presiding officer shall instruct the elector how to make his or her mark, and shall properly fold the elector's ballot paper keeping the counterfoil, directing him or her to return with the ballot paper when marked, folded as shown, but shall not inquire or see for whom the elector intends to vote except when the elector is unable to vote in the manner provided by this Act on account of blindness or other physical incapacity.
(b) In instructing the elector how to make his or her mark the presiding officer shall only inform him or her to mark his or her ballot paper by marking with a black lead pencil or voting stamp approved by the Commission which he or she will find in the polling compartment a cross within the space containing the name and symbol of the candidate for whom he or she intends to vote. Where the presiding officer determines that the mark of an elector indicates a clear intention of the elector to vote for a candidate, the mark is deemed to be and counted as a valid vote. For the purposes of this subsection the presiding officer shall not use a ballot paper or any other similar paper. (Amended by Act 13 of 2016)
(3) The elector on receiving the ballot paper shall enter one of the polling compartments and there mark his or her ballot paper by making with a black lead pencil or voting stamp approved by the Commission and not otherwise a cross within the space containing the name and symbol of the candidate for whom he or she intends to vote, and he or she shall then fold the ballot paper as directed so that the initials can be seen without opening it, and having shown the initials to the presiding officer shall without unfolding the ballot paper place it in the ballot box in the presence of the presiding officer. (Amended by Act 13 of 2016)
(3A) Notwithstanding subsections (2)(b) and (3), the presiding officer or elector shall not use the voting stamp approved by the Commission unless the Minister by Order appoints a date from or after which the voting stamp may be used. (Inserted by Act 13 of 2016)
(4) An elector who has inadvertently so dealt with the ballot paper delivered to him or her that it cannot conveniently be used shall restore it to the presiding officer who shall cancel it by writing the word “Spoiled” across the face of the same. The presiding officer shall then deliver another ballot paper to the elector.
(5) Every elector shall vote without undue delay and shall leave the polling station as soon as his or her ballot paper has been put into the ballot box.
(6) If at the hour of closing of the poll there are any electors inside the polling station or present on a line outside the polling station who are qualified to vote and have not been able to do so since their arrival at the polling station, the poll shall be kept open a sufficient time to enable them to vote, but no one not actually present within the polling station at the hour of closing shall be allowed to vote. (Amended by Act 13 of 2016)
(7) A police officer shall stand behind the last person standing on the line at the hour of closing of the poll. (Inserted by Act 13 of 2016)